Nigerians who are itching to see the
net worth of President Muhammadu Buhari and his vice, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, may
need to wait a bit longer, as the Code of Conduct Bureau, CCB, which keeps
custody of the assets declared by the two leaders, says it lacks the power to
make them public for now.
Chairman of the CCB, Mr. Sam Sada,
who spoke exclusively to Vanguard through his Special Assistant, Mr.
Gwimi Sebastian Peter, said only the National Assembly is vested with the
powers to decide the terms and conditions under which such documents could be
made public.
OFFICIAL PORTRAITS OF BUHARI,
OSINBAJO
The chairman said even though the
Constitution of Nigerian made it clear that the agency should make available to
the citizens the assets declared by public officials, the same law vested the
National Assembly with the power to decide the terms and conditions for making
such materials public.
Sada explained that the CCB was
ready to comply with the terms and conditions specified by the National
Assembly on the matter but would only do so once the law was amended.
He said: “While the Constitution of
the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999) and the Code of Conduct Bureau and
Tribunal Act give the bureau powers to receive assets declarations, verify,
examine, keep in custody and enforce compliance when there is a breach, the
responsibility of determining how and on what terms asset declarations will be
made accessible to the public was left to the National Assembly.
“Several National Assemblies have
come and gone since the establishment of the CCB without addressing the
matter.”
Lacuna in FOI Act
When his attention was drawn to the
provisions of the Freedom of Information Act, which makes it compulsory for the
CCB to make available to media houses and other interested Nigerians the assets
of public officers, the chairman said the FOI Act could not override the
provisions of the Nigerian Constitution.
He said that there was a lacuna in
the FOI Act, which makes it difficult for the bureau to make public the assets
declared by public figures.
Regarding what Buhari and his vice
submitted to the agency, the chairman said while it was rather too early for
Nigerians to ask the President and his vice to make public their assets, it was
necessary for them to exercise some patience and see what the two leaders would
do after having voluntarily filed their assets with the CCB.
What the constitution says
Sub-section 3c of Section 153 of the
1999 Constitution actually takes away the right it intended to give to the CCB
to publicly display the assets of public officers by stipulating that only the
NASS can decide the terms and conditions for making such assets public.
The section is yet to be repealed
many years after it was made.
The same section also seems to have
rendered impotent Section 4 of the FoI Act 2011, which states: “A public
institution shall ensure that information referred to in this section is widely
disseminated and made readily available to members of the public through various
means, including print, electronic and online sources, and at the offices of
such public institutions.”
Buhari and Osinbajo had last week
secretly filed their assets with the CCB, thereby reneging on the pledge by the
President to publicly declare his assets if elected into office.
But some aides of the President
argued last night that Buhari might make a public declaration of his assets as
his administration takes shape in the days to come.
They argued that the declaration of
their assets by the two men was to demonstrate their determination to break
away with the opaqueness that had attended government activities in the past
and pave the way for change.
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