Onnoghen: What we’ll do to erring public servants over non-declaration of assets – CCB

The Code of Conduct of Bureau (CCB) on Tuesday warned civil
servants and public office holders at both federal and state levels
against failure to declare their assets.

Prof. Isah Mohammed, Chairman of the bureau, said the body was
more than ever prepared to prosecute erring civil servants.

Mohammed gave the warning in an interview with the News Agency
of Nigeria in Abuja.

He advised civil servants and public office holders against
flagrant abuse of its Act by declaring their assets at the required
regular interval.

Mohammed said the bureau had not been particularly active in the
monitoring and prosecution of offenders, adding that there was a
renewed commitment to ensure that the body remained proactive.

“The Code of Conduct Bureau and the Code of Conduct Tribunal are
the creation of the 1999 Constitution as amended and we have
resolved to ensure full application of the law against
offenders.

“We are collaborating with other anti-corruption agencies and
the police to form the required synergy to fight corruption in the
country.

“There would be no hiding place for a public servant who keeps
away his or her assets from public knowledge. Such assets must be
declared at CCB at the right time,’’ he said.

On the charges against Justice Walter Onnoghen, the Chief
Justice of Nigeria (CJN), the CCB boss said the bureau’s action was
in line with the law.

According to him, Justice Onnoghen’s record with the bureau has
given the establishment the impetus to commence his
prosecution.

He explained further that the action was not driven by political
consideration, adding that the public must view the allegations
against the CJN as infraction of CCB’s law.

Mohammed said the bureau was considering a nationwide publicity
campaign to educate civil servants and public office holders on the
danger of not declaring their assets adequately.

He also said Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government
should appoint a desk officer that would continually keep staff
abreast of the need to update their assets with the bureau.

He added: “It is elementary to state that public servants have
the mandate to renew their CCB asset declaration form at four years
interval.

“Let me also tell you here that new appointees and employees of
government are respectively mandated to declare their assets after
joining the service.”

YIAGA AFRICA Commences Stakeholder Advocacy for 2019
Peaceful Polls

The 2019 General Elections is fast approaching with campaigns in
full gear, it is important that election stakeholders put
everything in place to ensure a peaceful and credible elections
come February 16 and March 2nd 2019. Recently, the Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC) released the list of
registered voters while also following up with the procedure of
voting on election day.

As the largest citizen movement committed to credible elections
in Nigeria, YIAGA AFRICA’s Watching The Vote (WTV) has commenced a
nationwide advocacy visit to election stakeholders in Nigeria. This
is in a bid to share the promises of the WTV Project, discuss the
deployment plans for the 2019 elections, seek stakeholder buy-in
and explore areas of collaboration as well as to provide
information on the ongoing pre-election observation across Nigeria.
The Pre-election observation being observed by our 822 Long Term
Observers across Nigeria has revealed salient information on level
of Voter Education and what role stakeholders need to play to
ensure improved citizen participation in the electoral process.

Using our National structure of one or more State Focal Point in
each of the 36 states and one Local Government Area Supervisor in
each of the 774 LGAs, we have commenced our advocacy visits to some
major election stakeholders in Nigeria to enable us to discuss our
reports and recommendations from the pre-election environment and
share our plans for the observation of the 2019 general elections.
The Advocacy visit wouldn’t have come at a better time as it
enables YIAGA AFRICA’s Watching The Vote project reach out to
elections stakeholders which include, INEC, the Nigerian Police
Force, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corp (NSCDC), National
Orientation Agency, Nigerian Union of Journalists, other Civil
Society Organisations, Traditional and Religious Leaders as well as
Faith Based Organizations (FBOs.

While informed citizen participation is vital to a credible
election, we believe that not only the electoral commission have a
role to play in educating voters, other stakeholders including
religious and traditional leaders can play huge roles as
influencers to their followers in preaching the electoral message.
Similarly, there is no credible elections without peace, and this
makes our advocacy visit to Police and the NSCDC very vital at this
crucial point in time. The visit to security agency nationwide will
enable us analyse the early warning systems we have built to ensure
security threats are nipped in the bud.

As an organization, we believe the mass media are key to
information dissemination especially at this election period. This
is why our Watching The Vote team are also paying advocacy visits
to the Nigerian Union of Journalists offices across Nigeria as this
will ensure that information on the electoral process will be
amplified as wide as possible.

In the coming days, WTV working group will also carry out
advocacy visits to critical election stakeholders at the national
level to inform them about the WTV plans for the observation of the
elections to introduce them to the WTV methodology. Just as the
ongoing engagements at by the State Focal Points at the State
level, the visits by the working group aim to instill confidence in
the electorates that the electoral process will be systematically
observed, and its results independently verified. The working group
will also host a media and CSO round table to explore areas of
collaboration and to intimate them about the plans WTV on the
electoral processes.

Cynthia Mbamalu
Project Director

Moshood Isah
Media Officer | YIAGA AFRICA