By Vivian Okejeme, Abuja
Ahead of 2023 General election, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) Tuesday, urged candidates seeking various political offices to declare their assets publicly.
CISLAC explained that the advocacy for the compliance with asset declaration laws in Nigeria project aims at executing an advocacy campaign for the adherence of asset declaration laws by public officials in Nigeria.
The Executive Director of CISLAC, Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, expressed this in his remarks at a workshop for Journalists on assets declaration, organized by CISLAC/Transparency International.
As the national chapter of Transparency International, an implementing partner of the project in Nigeria, Auwal Rafsanjani insisted that candidates must be made to declare their assets before and after leaving office.
He called out governments at all levels for failure to adequately fund the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal, pointing out that this has virtually frustrated the push for public officials to comply with assets declaration laws.
“We want every candidate in the 2023 general elections to declare his assets publicly and show commitment to complying with relevant assets declaration laws in Nigeria, Rafsanjani said.
“He expressed his concern that most public officials do “anticipatory declaration” due to failure of government to support CCB & T to investigate and punish assets declaration defaulters.
“If government is sincere and committed to fighting corruption, Rafsanjani held that past leaks around non| compliance with asset declaration when they get into office must be investigated.
Speaking further, CISLAC noted that the effect of non compliance with assets declaration is that the public will be in the dark about what government officials declare; as well as impunity for false declarations.
Giving the project overview, Samuel Asimi of CISLAC stated that the “core problem is that asset disclosure system in Nigeria isn’t fit-for-purpose. Some of the root causes of the problem according to the CISLAC official is, “CCB’s ineffective/politically biased. No enforcement of rules, breaches aren’t investigated, or sanctioned.
“Public disclosure of assets not enshrined in the law, FOI requests get rejected, National Assembly has not yet set conditions as well as public apathy.
