By Hussein J-Isah
The Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ola Olukoyede has described online asset declaration, introduced by the Code of Conduct Bureau, CCB as an idea whose time has come and a welcome development in the fight against corruption.
He stated this on Monday, during his goodwill message at the opening of a national workshop with the theme: “Strengthening Compliance with the Code of Conduct for Public Officers in Nigeria and the Deployment of the Online Assets and Liabilities Declaration Systems (OALDS)”, in conjunction with the European Union, the Federal Ministry of Justice and International IDEA.
Represented by the Director, Public Affairs Department of the EFCC, Commander of the EFCC, CE Wilson Uwujaren, the EFCC’s boss said, “I believe that the introduction of online asset declaration signals a huge step forward in the fight against corruption, as it offers Nigeria an opportunity to enhance transparency, promote accountability and foster trust in governance.”
He emphasized that the new arrangement will make a lasting impact by eliminating human interference and providing digital footprints for real-time monitoring and urged public officers at all levels to embrace the innovation for the entrenchment of trust and integrity.
He said: “Migrating from the age-long manual declaration system to a digital asset declaration platform is revolutionary as it offers an opportunity for all stakeholders to enjoy new benefits. Some of the benefits is a seamless declaration process that eliminates human interference and also overcomes democratic bottlenecks that mar the manual system that we have been operating for many years. Online declaration also offers digital footprints, which encourages real time monitoring and for us in law enforcement, such footprints also assist us in verifying asset declaration by public officers.”
While commending the initiative of the CCB and its partners in bringing together the heads of service of sub-national governments to be part of the engagement, he charged the heads of service to be committed to the implementation of the innovation for the achievement of the desired goal.
“Your personal example and commitment to this initiative will make all the difference. So, I’m counting on you to embrace this innovation and run with it. The EFCC will be delighted if we see that commitment and compliance to asset declaration formats improve going forward. I therefore charge public officers across all tiers of government to embrace this online asset declaration system as part of the wider efforts to build trust and enhance integrity in governance,” he said.
The EFCC helmsman assured the CCB of the support of the anti-graft body in the enforcement of the laws on asset declaration by public officers and expressed the hope that Nigerians and especially public officers across all tiers of government, will take advantage of the innovation to ensure compliance with asset declaration.
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