Shettima Canvasses Electronic Assets Declaration By Public Officers

Vice President Kashim Shettima has charged the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) to remain apolitical and maintain strict independence in order to function with integrity, transparency and accountability.

He also urged the bureau to sustain its digitisation process to create a system that allows public officers to declare assets and liabilities electronically from any location, eliminating the delays and inefficiencies of paper forms as well as match what obtains in foreign jurisdictions.

According to a statement by his spokesman, Stanley Nkwocha, the vice president gave the charge yesterday when he received a delegation from the CCB led by its chairman, Dr. Abdullahi Usman Bello, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Shettima congratulated Bello and his team on their assumption of office, just as he cautioned them against being mired in any controversy.

“Remain steadfast. Be as apolitical as humanly possible and do your job as much as you can,” he charged the delegation, and acknowledged the CCB’s current efforts, especially in the digitisation process, observing that the world is changing and the bureau has to move with the tide.

He told the CCB chairman to insist on the path of digitisation, maintaining that the bureau has a vital role to play in promoting and projecting a good image for Nigeria.

“There is no need for public officials thronging your offices trying to fill in some forms. And you can take them to task, since it has been digitised. You expect everyone to play by the rules,” the vice president added.

Earlier, Dr. Bello thanked President Bola Tinubu and the vice president for bringing in a new team to head the CCB and increasing the bureau’s budget, noting that the CCB has undergone several reforms, including the digitisation of the bureau’s associated processes.

He stated that the bureau had increased verification, investigation and prosecution, leading to several recoveries within and outside Nigeria, including in London.

The CCB boss assured that with enough empowerment and support for the bureau from the federal government, the bureau would continue to sustain the anti-corruption fight for the good of the country.