President, Muhammadu Buhari, on Friday, May 26 in Abuja, instructed all outgoing elected and appointed government officials under his administration to declare their assets.
When Buhari received his assets declaration form from Prof. Isah Mohammed, the Chairman of the Code of Conduct Bureau, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He said, “Nobody is excluded from declaring their assets. I expect everyone from the Vice President downwards to follow the system.”
Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, revealed this in a statement he signed on May 26 titled “President Buhari receives assets declaration form, directs all outgoing officials to do the same.”
Buhari noted that, his strict adherence to the constitutional requirement of assets declaration before and after taking office is to raise moral standards in Public Service, combat corruption and help to build integrity.
Meanwhile, the President directed all outgoing officials, elected and appointed from the Vice President downwards to collect the assets declaration form, fill and return it as he has done.
Prof. Mohammed, CCB Boss, said compliance by the President Buhari in the last eight years and the support he had given to the Bureau had enabled it to achieve 99 per cent compliance by elected and appointed officials.
The asset declaration form is a schedule of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999) and is mandatory for all elected, appointed, recruited and contracted Public Officers.
Declarants are required by Law to state their assets/liability including that of their spouses who is not Public Officer and children under 18 years of age and submit the same to the Bureau within 30 days of the receipt of the forms.
The president-elect, Bola Tinubu, the vice president-elect, Kashim Shettima and 28 incoming governors and their cabinet members as well as the state assembly members are also expected to submit their assets forms to the CCB.
According to guidelines published on the CCB website, “Failure to declare the assets may result in removal from office, disqualification from membership of a legislative house, imposition of fine and vacation of the official seat in any legislative house.
