By Hillary Asemota
The Federal Government through the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, Mr. Bashir Nura Alkali, has called on public servants to avoid anticipatory declaration of property and assets in their asset’s declaration forms especially when such property have not been acquired.
Alkali, made the disclosure during the enlightenment seminar tagged “Enlightenment Seminar on Electronic guide for the completion of assets declaration form and conflicts of interest” organized by the Anti-corruption and Transparency Unit (ACTU) unit of the Ministry.
He commended the enlightenment seminar organized by the Ministry for its staff saying that it would guide public officers on how to fill their Assets Declaration Forms and also help them to avoid conflicts of interest.
According to him, one of the most critical parts of asset declaration was in filling the form and failure to fill the form and declaration was a crime.
He said: “One will not appreciate the importance of this exercise until one is invited to the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) to answer questions bordering on asset declaration.”
In his presentation, the Deputy-Director, Education and Advocacy Services (EAS) of the Code of Conduct Bureau, Mr. Okwose Micheal, said the Constitution empowers the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) and the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) to deal with complaints of corruption by public servants for the breaches of its provisions.
According to him, some of these provisions include conflicts of interest with duty, prohibition of ownership of foreign accounts, receiving of gifts or benefits of any kind for a job done, membership of societies, and most importantly, not declaring of one’s assets.
He explained that every public officer shall, within 15 months after the coming into force of this Act or immediately after taking office and thereafter, at the end of every four years or at the end of terms of office shall declare his or her assets.
In his closing remarks, the Deputy-Director/ Head of ACTU of the Ministry, Barr. Sonny Inyang, thanked the Permanent Secretary for graciously approving the holding of the seminar for staff saying, that it would go a long way in guiding them in filling the asset form properly.
He promised that it would be a continuous exercise in order to assist staff to know the implication of not declaring their assets at the appropriate time.
Signed: Mrs. Blessing Lere-Adams, Director, Press and PR, FMWH.