The verification of assets declared by state governors, their deputies, commissioners and other political office holders across the 36 states of the federation may soon become a source of worry as the Code of Conduct Bureau fails to fund its state offices nationwide.

The 36 state offices of the CCB are in charge of thousands of asset declaration forms and the accompanying asset ownership documents belonging to political office holders and career civil servants resident in the various states.

Finding by The PUNCH on Wednesday revealed that the CCB headquarters in Abuja currently owes its 36 state offices running cost allowances for about seven months.

According to officials, over 1,000 political office holders and career civil servants’ asset declaration forms and asset documents are handled by each of the 36 state CCB offices.

State offices

Top CCB officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak on the matter, said the development had nearly grounded the state offices’ operations.

The officials said the lack of funds to run the state offices had affected their ability to do necessary follow-ups on the asset declaration forms submitted by governors, their deputies, commissioners, state assembly lawmakers, local government chairmen, govs’ aides, and career civil servants, as mandated by the 1999 constitution.

The bureau was allocated N2.6bn in the 2023 Appropriation Act but in December, its acting Chairman, Murtala Kankia, presented a budget proposal of N49bn to the Joint Committee of the Senate and House of Representatives on Ethics Privileges and Anti-Corruption, noting that under-funding was hampering the operations of the bureau.

He added that to properly carry out the mandate of asset administration, verification and prosecution of cases at the tribunal, the bureau must be better funded.

The CCB got a total of N15.24bn in five years, according to an analysis of its budgets between 2020 and 2024.

The bureau got budget funding of N2. 47bn in 2020, N3.14bn in 2021, N3.79bn in 2022, N2.69bn in 2023 and N3.14bn in 2024.

On March 28, President Tinubu appointed Dr Abdullahi Bello as the new CCB chairman pending confirmation by the Senate. Bello succeeded Prof Isah Mohammed, who was appointed by former President Muhammadu Buhari in November 2018.

According to the constitution, the CCB is empowered to verify the assets declared by Tinubu, Vice President Kashim Shettima, their aides and 28 new governors who were sworn in on May 29, 2023.

The bureau is also expected to vet the assets declared by other officials, including senators and the House of Representatives.

the CCB spokesperson, Mrs Veronica Kato, had told The PUNCH in an interview last year that asset declaration was an integral part of the swearing-in ceremony of political leaders, according to the law.

In compliance with the constitution, several elected officials reportedly submitted their assets declaration forms to the CCB state offices nationwide ahead of their inauguration.

Furthermore, former officials, including ex-president Muhammadu Buhari, presidential aides, 28 state governors and their cabinet members, National Assembly and state assembly members and local government chairmen equally obtained assets declaration forms from the CCB and submitted the same in line with the 1999 constitution.

The concerned individuals were expected to submit their six-month bank statements alongside their asset declaration forms.

They were also required to appear before the CCB team in their states to present title documents of some of the assets they claimed belonged to them in the asset forms.

However, sources in the bureau, including a commissioner at the CCB headquarters in Abuja and a director, confirmed that the state offices were being starved of funds and have been unable to carry out their responsibility on the asset declaration forms declared by politically exposed persons.

Also, a director, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of victimisation, said the last time he received an allowance from the CCB headquarters was in May 2023.

He disclosed that over 100 ad hoc staff, including security personnel guarding sensitive documents, and drivers attached to state directors, were being owed salaries for several months.

He stated, “We have just been paid three months allowance out of 11 months arrears. We don’t know whether it was part of last year or this year. Before then, the last running cost payment we received from our headquarters was in May 2023.

“We were paid three months, three months received out of 11 months (arrears). The money was released to the agency but never got to state offices. That actually paralysed the operational activities of the state offices.

“State offices of the code of conduct bureau were created per constitutional provisions, hence there must be appropriation of funds to state offices.”

Due to paucity of funds, our correspondent was informed that the state offices have been struggling to pay electricity and water bills and had been unable to carry out routine maintenance on their office buildings or meet other financial obligations such as the payment of security guards, drivers and cleaners who earn N20,000 and N15,000 monthly, respectively.

“We find it hard to pay our electricity and water bills, security guards, drivers, cleaners or procure stationery. Also, our duty tour allowance has not been paid for several months and we fuel and maintain the operational vehicles from our pockets.

“So, how can the state office function without proper funding? What did the head office do with the money?” the director queried.

(The PUNCH)