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  • Akpabio assures CCB of Senate support in addressing its challenges

    Akpabio assures CCB of Senate support in addressing its challenges

    The President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio has assured the board and management of the Code of Conduct Bureau(CCB) of the readiness and commitment of the Senate to addressing the challenges facing the Bureau.

    Akpabio gave the assurance on Thursday when members of the Code of Conduct Bureau, led by its Chairman, Dr Abdullahi Bello, paid him a courtesy visit in his office.

    The Senate President acknowledged the relevance of the CCB, describing it as a “very important agency of government, not only in terms of bringing about moral rectitude but also in terms of discipline of public officers and ensuring accountability.”

    “We don’t normally clear any public officer in the Senate unless we are assured that the person has attached acknowledgement form of his declaration of assets before the Code of Conduct Bureau.

    “We are happy that you have enunciated the vision of what you want to do because if you don’t have a conducive working environment, there is no way you could achieve much,” Akpabio said.

    On the complaint of inadequate budgetary allocation, the Senate President told the delegation that it had come to the right place and at the right time.

    “We will engage those who are involved in bringing budgetary estimates before the National Assembly. We will engage them to let them know that the Code of Conduct Bureau cannot be stifled of fund otherwise it will not achieve much for the country.

    “We have taken serious parliamentary note of your requests and we will definitely do something and get back to you as soon as possible.

    “I assure you of our readiness to work with you and the entirety of the Bureau to achieve the aims for which the agency is set up. I appreciate this visit and I assure you of our collaboration,” he said.

    Earlier, the CCB chairman who led the delegation, Dr Abdullahi Bello told the Senate President of the many challenges facing the Bureau and pleaded for the intervention of the Senate.

    The challenges, according to him, included inadequate funding and issues about office accommodation, manpower and logistics.

  • Tinubu asks Senate to confirm CCB Governing Board members

    Tinubu asks Senate to confirm CCB Governing Board members

    The Senate has received President Bola Tinubu’s request for confirmation of appointment of three persons as members of Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB). The letter was read on Thursday by the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, at plenary.

    The president, in the letter, said that the confirmation of CCB board members’ appointment was in accordance with the provisions of Sections 154(1) and paragraph 1(a) and (b) of part 1 to the Third Schedule of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

    The letter gave the names of the members as: Mr  Fatai Ibikunle, Mr Kennedy Ikpeme and Retired Justice Ibrahim Buba.

    “While it is my hope that the senate will consider and confirm the nominees in the usual expeditious manner. Please accept, Distinguished Senate President, the assurances of my best regards,” he said.

  • Tinubu nominates new board members for CCB

    Tinubu nominates new board members for CCB

    President Bola Tinubu has nominated three new members to fill existing vacancies on the board of the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB).

    Mr Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President, Information and Strategy disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday

    The announcement was contained in a formal letter by the President addressed to the President of the Senate, Onanuga said in the statement.

    The nominees are: Alhaji Fatai Ibikunle from Oyo State, Mr Kennedy Ikpeme from Cross River, and Justice Ibrahim Buba, a retired judge of the Federal High Court.

    “Established in 1979, the Code of Conduct Bureau plays a critical role in maintaining integrity within public service and ensuring compliance with the country’s ethical standards.

    “The Bureau operates with a 10-member board.

    “On October 23, 2024, President Tinubu swore in the chairman of the board, Dr. Abdullahi Usman Bello,” reads the statement.

    The current board includes: Mr Muritala Aliyu Kankia, Mr E. J Agbomayinma, Mr Ben Umeano, and Prof. Juwayriyya Badamasiuy. Other are: Mr. Bulus I Zephaniah, and Hon. Abdulsalam Taofiq Olawale.

  • War Against Corruption: ICPC, CCB canvass Enactment of Whistleblower Law

    War Against Corruption: ICPC, CCB canvass Enactment of Whistleblower Law

    The Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), Dr. Musa Adamu Aliyu, SAN, and the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), Abdullahi Bello, have called for urgently passing a whistleblower protection law in Nigeria.

    The duo made the call during a radio town hall meeting organized by PRIMORG in partnership with AFRICMIL at the weekend in Abuja, themed ‘Challenge of The Absence of Whistleblowing Legislation in Nigeria and Its Impact On the Anti-Corruption War.’

    ICPC Chairman Dr. Musa Adamu Aliyu, while making a solid case for a whistleblower protection law, said anti-graft agencies in the country rely heavily on whistleblowing to function effectively and protect people who make disclosures.

    Aliyu, who the Commission’s Spokesperson represented, Demola Bakare, assured that their anti-corruption mandate is firmly on course even in the absence of a whistleblower law while alluding that more needs to be done to curb public sector corruption in Nigeria.

    He called on anti-corruption agencies and law enforcement officers to tweak their in-house policies to protect whistleblowers, stressing that serious sanctions should be meted out on the staff of anti-graft agencies found culpable of breaching the code of confidentiality.

    “All the anti-corruption and law enforcement agencies rely on intelligence or information from members of the public to function effectively. They have contributed ideas to the draft whistleblower bill pending. I can say categorically of the anti-corruption agencies: our agency (ICPC), the EFCC, and the Code of Conduct Bureau have all contributed to it.

    “The anti-corruption crusade is on course, but more work has to be done. There is still a lot to do because it’s not easy to address and overcome something that is behaviorally attitudinal.

    “The Act establishing the ICPC urges us to protect the sanctity of the information that we receive as well as the informant. So that, to an extent, is to protect anybody that gives us information,” He pledged.

    Bakare urged Nigerians not to lose hope in the country, emphasizing that ICPC and other anti-corruption agencies need information from citizens to do their jobs effectively.

    “I would like to encourage Nigerians that should not to lose hope, Anti-corruption agencies, and law enforcement agencies are not that buoyant, they are not spirits, and If you do not give them that information, they will not be able to do their job effectively.

    “Anti-corruption agencies, too, must play their role. We should sanction our people, our people internally, who breach the code of confidentiality. “

    CCB’s Chairman, represented by the Director of States and Local Government Department, Simon Abu, said President Bola Tinubu must expeditiously persuade the 10th National Assembly to pass whistleblowing into law if the administration wants to fight corruption.

    “Corruption has brought Nigeria to a sordid state, and if we are to fight corruption, President Tinubu should put it on the National Assembly to expeditiously pass whistleblowing into law.”

    Abu disclosed that CCB, in delivering on its mandate, is challenged by interference from highly placed public officials, politicians, and traditional leaders, among others. At the same time, called non-governmental bodies to keep the pressure on the authorities to pass a whistleblower law.

    “We need the pressure groups, NGOs, and CSOs to put pressure on the federal lawmakers to pass this (whistleblower) bill expeditiously because whistleblowing issues are germane to curbing corruption on a very high scale,” Abu posited.

    On his part, AFRICMIL’s Senior Programme Officer, Crispin Oduobuk called on citizens to demand enactment of whistleblowing law from their representatives who are members of the Nigerian Senate and Federal House of Representatives, stressing that “whistleblowing is the biggest tool to fight corruption”.

    Oduobuk insisted that Nigeria needs a statutory body set up by law to protect whistleblowers in the country. He lamented the inability of the Federal Government to pass the 2022 Whistleblower Draft Bill domiciled at the Federal Ministry of Finance into law to date.

    “The major thing citizens can do is make demands of whistleblowing law from their representatives.

    “We as Nigerians tend to have a careless attitude towards those who represent us, but we have Senators and House of Reps members, and we know them. We have their addresses, emails, and phone numbers. Nigerians have these details – reach out to your members of the National Assembly and demand that the whistleblower protection laws be passed for the benefit of all. It is the biggest tool to fight corruption,” Oduobuk advised.

     

    He lamented that whistleblowers in Nigeria are predisposed to reprisal attacks due to frustration by unscrupulous anti-corruption agents who disclose the identities of informants for pecuniary gains. Additionally, anti-graft agencies should use the confidentiality clause enshrined in their operations to protect whistleblowers in Nigeria.

     

    The Progressive Impact Organisation for Community Development, PRIMORG, and the Africa Center for Media and Information Literacy, AFRICMIL, have vigorously been advocating the Nigerian government strengthen its anti-corruption war with legislation after the inception of the whistleblower policy in 2016.

     

    The Radio Town Hall meeting series is aimed at increasing citizens’ active participation and involvement and encouraging the government to institutionalize the whistleblowing policy.

    The program runs with support from the MacArthur Foundation.

  • Tinubu appoints new Chairman of CCB

    Tinubu appoints new Chairman of CCB

    President Bola Tinubu has appointed Dr Abdullahi Usman Bello as the new Chairman of the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), pending confirmation by the Nigerian Senate.

    This is contained in a statement by Chief Ajuri Ngelale, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, on Thursday in Abuja.

    Ngelale said that Bello was a consummate professional with more than 25 years of work experience in consulting, banking, law enforcement, financial services and academia.

    He said that the President anticipated the new Chairman would lead the Bureau with utmost integrity toward the realization of its mandate of maintaining high standards of public morality in the conduct of government business.

    Ngelale said Tinubu expected the new appointee to ensure that the actions and behaviour of public officers conform to the highest standards of morality and accountability.

  • CCB begins verification of political office holders’ assets

    CCB begins verification of political office holders’ assets

    The Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) has begun verification of political office holders and top government officials’ assets as part of renewed anti-corruption crusade in the country.

    The acting Chairman of the Bureau, Mr Murtala Aliyu-Kankia, stated this while monitoring the ongoing verification exercise on Monday in Katsina.

    He said the exercise would cover senior public officers and civil servants including permanent secretaries, director-generals, directors and other top officials of government’s establishments.

    “I briefed the governor on why we are in Katsina. He is also keen in fighting corruption,” he said

    According to him, the exercise is aimed at finding out the genuineness of assets declared by political office holders and other senior civil servants on assumption of office.

    This, he said, would add value to the fight against corruption by President Bola Tinubu’s administration, adding that after the exercise its personnel would go to the field to authenticate the assets declared by the officers.

    “You know, some people have a tendency of under-declaration, anticipatory declaration and even non declaration of their assets.

    “To detect these three aspects, we go to the field to find out where someone under-declared, or in anticipation of getting something declared he has a property.

    “All these are offences.  The person found wanting would be referred to the CCB tribunal for prosecution accordingly.

    “The punishment is either for him to forfeit the property, banned from holding public office for 10 years or be asked to vacate the office he is occupying.

    “We are on course, we are doing it for the good of the country and the people,” he said.

    According to Aliyu-Kankia, the bureau is working with sister agencies like EFCC, ICPC to continue fighting against corruption in the country.

    He urged stakeholders to support the exercise to enhance the fight against corruption for sustainable  social and economic development of the country.

  • ICPC, CCB partner against public sector corruption

    ICPC, CCB partner against public sector corruption

    Chairman, Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has initiated a collaboration with the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB).

    The initiative was aimed at strengthening ties and aligning efforts to rid the country of corruption in the public sector.

    The ICPC spokesperson, Mrs Azuka Ogugua said this in a statement on Friday, in Abuja.

    Ogugua said the collaboration was agreed on  when the ICPC Chairman, in company of the commission’s management team,  paid a courtesy visit to the Acting Chairman of CCB, Mr Aliyu  Kankia in Abuja.

    The ICPC boss, however,  said  the visit was borne out of the desire of the commission under his leadership, to work with relevant stakeholders to achieve giant strides in the Federal Government’s Renewed Hope Agenda of fighting corruption.

    Aliyu stressed that President Bola Tinubu has an honest commitment to the fight against corruption and that this could be achieved through collaboration and partnership with the CCB.

    This, he  described as the most powerful and important anti-corruption agency in Nigeria recognised and mentioned in the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

    “The collaboration is in furtherance to consolidating and improving on an existing Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two agencies.

    “There are many things that both agencies can do together to move this country forward.

    “I know that there is an existing MoU between us, and we want to improve on it and harness resources within our reach to work efficiently for the common good and benefit of our nation.

    ”Whenever you need anything from us, please do not hesitate to reach out to us while we will also do so from our end,” he said.

    In his remarks, the acting chairman of CCB, stated that the visit was a step in the right direction as the fight against the menace of corruption required cooperation and understanding as displayed by the ICPC chairman and his team.

    “The visit signifies friendship, understanding and cooperation to come together for  a common goal in the fight against corruption.

    “CCB is the creation of the constitution that speaks on giving and taking, conflict of Interest, asset declaration and assets verification,” Kankia said.

    He expressed  readiness of the bureau to continue to forward relevant cases to ICPC as it had always done based on findings in carrying out their assignment on assets evaluation and assessments of public servants.

    “You can rely on us. We have the tools that will help your work as we have always done, we will share relevant information with you to help your work.

    “CCB also categorises offences and forwards to appropriate anti-corruption agencies,” he said.

    Kankia called on ICPC to work with the bureau in the aspects of trainings especially on investigation as that would equally help them in their work.

  • CCB arraigns Kano State anti-graft chairman, Magaji

    CCB arraigns Kano State anti-graft chairman, Magaji

    The Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) said it has arraigned the Chairman of the Kano State Anti-Graft Commission, Muhuyi Magaji, on a 10-count charge before the Code of Conduct Tribunal in Abuja.

    This is contained in a statement by the Head of Press, CCB, Veronica Kato, and made available to newsmen in Abuja on Saturday.

    Kato said the charges against Magaji bordered on alleged breach of the code of conduct for public officers, conflict of interest, abuse of office, false asset declaration, bribery, accepting gifts and others.

    She said that Magaji was arraigned before the tribunal on Thursday.

    Kato said investigations showed the existence of undisclosed bank accounts to the tune N394 million, thereby raising suspicion of corruption.

    She said the defendant was however granted bail with the sum of N5million and two sureties with properties within the FCT.

  • Asset Declaration: CCB threatens to prosecute political appointees in Enugu

    Asset Declaration: CCB threatens to prosecute political appointees in Enugu

    The Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) has threatened to prosecute political appointees in Enugu State that failed to return their Asset Declaration forms to the bureau before Sept. 30.

    Mrs Lucy Ijetta, the Director, Code of Conduct Bureau in Enugu State, made the threat in an interview with NAN on Thursday in Enugu.

    She said that out of the 58 Assets Declaration Forms issued to the political appointees, only 23 public officers had returned their completed CCB-1 form to her office.

    The director, however, urged the newly appointed Commissioners, Special Advisers, Senior Special Assistants, Special Assistants and all appointed Heads of Corporate Institutions, who were yet to submit their beginning of Tenure Assets Declaration Forms to its office to do so without further delay.

    “Failure to adhere to this will tantamount to the breach of the Code and I shall be constrained to submit their names to the Code of Conduct Tribunal for prosecution.

    “Please note that you have from now till the end of this month of September to comply to this directive.

    “For those yet to collect Assets Declaration Form, you can go to the SSG’s office to collect it from Prof Obiamaka Egbo, Special Adviser to the Governor on Public Financial Management or Code of Conduct Bureau Office, Room 201, Federal Secretariat, Independence Layout, Enugu,” she said.

    According to her,  in pursuant to section 11(i), (a) and (b) of the third schedule of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended, every public officer shall immediately after taking office, submit to the Code of Conduct Bureau, a written declaration of all his property.

    Other assets, she listed, were assets and liabilities and that of his spouse and unmarried children under the age of 18 years.

  • Code of Conduct Tribunal frustrating fight against corruption – CCB

    Code of Conduct Tribunal frustrating fight against corruption – CCB

    … as CSOs urge incoming administration to digitize assets declaration

    The Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) says its primary responsibility of checking corrupt practices is challenged by inadequate funding and failure of the Code of Conduct Tribunal to sit on corruption cases ‘for some years now.’
    The tribunal is responsible for the trial of public officers found to have falsified assets in their declaration before and after taking public office.
    Deputy Director Code of Conduct Bureau, Michael Okwose, said that after rigorous investigations, public officers indicted are hardly put to trial.
    Okwose disclosed this while participating in a special radio town hall meeting on corruption organized by the Progressive Impact Organization for Community Development (PRIMORG) at the weekend in Abuja.
    CCB is a pioneer anti-corruption agency set up by the Federal Government to maintain a high morality standard and check corrupt practices among public officers. CCT is an independent administrative court of the bureau.
    Okwose, while calling on the incoming Ahmed Bola Tinubu’s government to prioritize funding of the bureau, said the Code of Conduct Bureau could not boast of bringing corrupt politicians or public office holders to book in the last couple of years because Code Conduct Tribunal, which is constitutionally empowered to try corruption investigations failed to ‘sit’ for no known reason in the last two years.
    “The challenge we have in the bureau is our court in the Code of Conduct Tribunal. We carry out investigations. We receive petitions from the public about non-compliance with the conduct of public officers. We receive complaints about people breaching their provisions, and after investigation, we refer our cases to the Code of Conduct Tribunal.
    “What I can tell you is the tribunal is not sitting. It makes us (CCB) look like we’re not doing anything.
    “For some years now, the CCT hardly sits. There are so many pending cases before the tribunal. So that is why if you talk about conviction now, there is none because the tribunal is not sitting. That is our major problem,” Okwose emphasized.
    On strengthening the CCB, Okwose urged the incoming administration to empower the CCB. “We need funds to carry out investigation and verification; we also need personnel recruitment. Everything is down to funding”.
    The Chief Operating Officer of 21st Century Community Empowerment for Youth and Women Initiative, Lukman Adefolahan, backed calls for adequate funding of CCB, adding that the incoming administration must tighten public procurement processes, empower the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation and amend the audit law that is currently in use if it truly wants to fight corruption.
    Adefolahan also said the government should digitize the assets declaration of public office holders and work towards cutting the cost of governance immediately by reviewing and implementing the Orosanye White Paper Report.
    “We are still using the 1956 Audit Act in Nigeria, which is pre-colonial. It is very unfortunate. If we can get CCB right, if we get Office of Auditor General right, ICPC, EFCC and others will be doing lesser work,” he stated.
    On his part, the Director of Legal and Documentation, Center for Transparency Advocacy, Tochukwu Ohazurike, said the Tinubu administration must possess the political will to fight corruption if it will make any progress while joining calls for digitization of assets declaration at CCB.
    His words:” If he (Tinubu) has the willpower, let him digitize CCB, digitize issues of property sales and transactions in the entire country. Something must be done about our criminal justice system”.
    Media Consultant & Activist Princess Halima Jubril lamented that the media did not fare well under the outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari administration on many fronts, especially the three major mantras the administration campaigned, which were anti-corruption, economy and security.
    Jubril urged the incoming government to be holistic in their anti-corruption approach and ensure adequate funds are provided for CCB to do their job. She added that the media would not relent in their responsibility to hold the government to account as mandated by the constitution.
    The PRIMORG’s Town Hall Meeting Against Corruption series is aimed at calling the public and government attention to specific issues of corruption in Nigeria.
    The syndicated radio program runs with support from the MacArthur Foundation.