President Bola Tinubu has approved a significant increase in the budget of the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), raising its allocation from about N3 billion to nearly N20 billion to strengthen asset declaration, verification and enforcement mechanisms.
The CCB Chairman, Dr Abubakar Bello, disclosed this on Sunday in Abuja during an interview, explaining that the funding boost is aimed at modernising the bureau’s operations and addressing long-standing structural challenges.
Bello said the enhanced budget would support critical technological upgrades, improve the bureau’s working environment and strengthen its capacity to verify and enforce compliance with asset declaration laws.
He revealed that upon assuming office, he discovered that asset declaration processes were still largely manual, relying on paper forms that were expensive to produce, difficult to store and cumbersome to analyse. According to him, the situation created severe shortages, as millions of public servants across ministries and agencies routinely demanded forms the bureau could not supply.
Bello noted that the problem was compounded by limited funding, with the 2025 budget allocating only about N70 million for printing asset declaration forms—an amount capable of producing just 50,000 to 60,000 copies for more than 4.5 million public servants nationwide.
To temporarily address the shortage, he said the bureau adopted a stopgap solution inspired by Kenya, making asset declaration forms available for download on its website. However, he admitted that the approach only addressed accessibility and not the fundamental flaws of a manual system.
As part of long-term reforms, Bello disclosed that the bureau is now close to launching a fully digital asset declaration platform following extensive stakeholder engagement. The platform, expected to go live in the first quarter of 2026, will enable public servants to declare assets online from anywhere in the world.
He described the system as a “game changer,” explaining that it will be integrated with major databases, including those of the Corporate Affairs Commission, Federal Inland Revenue Service, Bank Verification Number system, land registries and other government records, allowing for real-time verification.
Bello added that artificial intelligence would be deployed to analyse asset declarations by comparing a public officer’s net worth at the beginning and end of service, flagging unexplained wealth or potential violations of the Code of Conduct for further scrutiny.
He further disclosed that the bureau has commenced asset verification exercises for ministers, permanent secretaries and other senior public officials, stressing that verification should not be confused with investigation. He cited the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, as having personally submitted to asset verification, describing it as a strong signal of leadership by example.
According to Bello, the verification process has already resulted in interim forfeiture orders in cases where public servants failed to declare assets or could not justify their sources, including properties located both within and outside Nigeria. Some recovered funds, he said, have been transferred to the Central Bank of Nigeria.
He warned that refusal to declare assets or respond to verification invitations could trigger investigations and possible prosecution before the Code of Conduct Tribunal, urging public officers to adhere strictly to the bureau’s guiding principle: “Declare or Forfeit.”
