Abuja: President Bola Tinubu has approved an increase in the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB)’s budget from approximately N3 billion to nearly N20 billion.
According to News Agency of Nigeria, this budget enhancement aims to overhaul the nation’s outdated asset declaration system, improve verification and enforcement, and make the bureau more efficient.
The Chairman of the CCB, Dr. Abdullahi Bello, highlighted the necessity of this financial boost to fund technological upgrades, improve the bureau’s working environment, and enhance its verification and enforcement capabilities. Upon assuming office, Bello discovered that the asset declaration process was still heavily reliant on paper forms, which were scarce, costly, and cumbersome to manage. This reliance on manual processes was further exacerbated by a 2025 budget allocation of only about N70 million for printing forms, sufficient for merely 50,000 to 60,000 forms amid a demand from over 4.5 million public servants nationwide.
To mitigate these challenges, the bureau adopted a temporary solution inspired by Kenya, allowing public servants to download asset declaration forms from its website. However, this approach only addressed availability issues without resolving the inherent limitations of a manual system. Bello revealed that the bureau is now developing a fully online asset declaration platform, anticipated to be operational by the first quarter of 2026. This digital system will enable public servants to declare assets globally and will directly connect with key government databases for instant verification.
The new platform will integrate databases from the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Bank Verification Number (BVN) system, land registries, and other government records. It will also utilize artificial intelligence to analyze asset declarations, comparing net worth at the start and end of a public servant’s tenure. The AI system will flag any unexplained wealth or potential breaches of conduct for further examination.
As part of ongoing reforms, the CCB has initiated asset verification for ministers, permanent secretaries, and other senior officials. Bello emphasized that verification is distinct from investigation and cited the example of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, who personally underwent asset verification, demonstrating leadership by example. Verification efforts have already resulted in interim forfeiture orders for public servants who failed to declare assets or account for their sources, with some recovered funds transferred to the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Bello issued a warning to public servants that failure to declare assets or refusal to comply with verification requests could lead to investigations and potential prosecution before the Code of Conduct Tribunal.