President Bola Tinubu has approved a massive increase in the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB)’ budget from about N3 billion to nearly N20 billion.

The chairman of the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), Abubakar Bello, disclosed this in an interview with journalists on Sunday in Abuja.

Mr Bello said the increase was to overhaul the nation’s outdated asset declaration system, strengthen verification and enforcement to make the bureau more virile.

He added that the budget increase was necessary to fund  technological upgrades, improve the bureau’s working environment and  strengthen verification processes and enhance enforcement capacity.

The CCB chairman recalled that when he assumed office, he discovered that asset declaration was still largely manual, relying on paper forms that were scarce, expensive to print and difficult to store, analyse and verify.

He noted that public servants across ministries and agencies constantly requested tens of thousands of forms that the bureau could not provide.

According to him, the situation was worsened by the fact that the 2025 budget made provision of only about N70 million for printing forms.

He said the amount could only produce just about 50,000 to 60,000 forms for over 4.5 million public servants nationwide.

To address the challenge, he said the bureau adopted a temporary model inspired by Kenya, uploading asset declaration forms on its website for public servants to download.

However, he said the method only solved the problem of availability, not the deeper issue of a manual system.

Mr Bello revealed that the bureau is now at an advanced stage of developing a fully online asset declaration platform, following extensive consultations with stakeholders.

He said the system, expected to be ready by the first quarter of 2026, will allow public servants to declare assets from anywhere in the world.

The CCB chairman said the digital platform will be a “game changer” because it will link directly with key databases.

According to him, the platform will link Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Bank Verification Number (BVN) system, land registries and other government records to enable instant verification.

He added that artificial intelligence will also be deployed to analyse asset declarations, compare net worth at the beginning and end of a public servant’s tenure. 

The AI platform, according to him, would flag unexplained wealth or possible breaches of the Code of Conduct for further review.

As part of reforms, Mr Bello said the bureau has begun inviting ministers, permanent secretaries and other senior officials for asset verification, stressing that “verification is not investigation.”

He disclosed that the attorney-general of the federation and minister of justice, Lateef Fagbemi, personally appeared to verify his assets, sending a strong signal of leadership by example.

The CCB chairman said verification had already led to interim forfeiture orders in cases where public servants failed to declare assets or could not explain their sources, including properties within and outside Nigeria.

According to him, some recovered funds were already transferred to the Central Bank of Nigeria.

He warned public servants that failure to declare assets or refusal to honour verification invitations could trigger investigations and possible prosecution before the Code of Conduct Tribunal.

Mr Bello urged compliance with the bureau’s guiding principle: “Declare or Forfeit.” 

(NAN)