Posted on: 03:46 Sun, 01 Nov 2015



Already, some ministers–designate are
beginning to test public opinion on the
matter of whether or not to declare
their assets publicly. Some of them are
suggesting that they are not bound to
follow the lead of President
Muhammadu Buhari and his vice,
Professor Yemi Osinbajo.

They argue that the constitution only
requires them to make the
declaration to the Code of Conduct
Bureau and not public.

Feelers from the Presidency itself
indicate that it was not in a position
to compel the ministers to declare
their assets publicly. In a way, the
presidency may be right about its
position on the matter. It is probable
that the constitution is not making
this demand on this group of public
officers. It is also possible that it did
not happen in the past that the
ministers had to declare their assets
publicly.

For the purpose of this discourse, let
us even assume that the above
scenario applies…

But members of the public may be
compelled to make this demand on
the officers aspiring to serve them
regardless of what the constitution
and the code of conduct say. In
making that demand, the public may
rely on the pledge by the ruling party
that it is in power to bring about a
change in certain attitudes so as to
depart from the previous ways things
were done in public life.

Besides, it is our view that on some
issues, public will can override even
the constitution. If it happens now
and the ministers declare their assets
publicly as is being demanded, the
constitution and the law that set up
the code of conduct bureau can be
amended to formalise the process in
line with the dictates of public
opinion.

The public is morally bound to insist
that since the office of the minister is
a major organ for managing its
resources, incomes and
expenditures, it is proper for it to
know that it can vouch for the
integrity of those it is handing over
such affairs to.

By civil service rules, the Permanent
Secretary is the ministry’s chief
accounting officer. But that is in
theory because Nigerians know that
no permanent secretary can disburse
or dispense with one kobo without
the minister’s say so. That has been
made even more obvious in this
Buhari administration where
without ministers for almost six
months, not much has been done in
the ministries as most things require
ministerial approval. If they are this
important, is it not appropriate for
the public to know who they are and
what they owned prior to assuming
office to enable it to do a
comparative assessment of their
possession before and after office?
The issue here is moral not legal
integrity.

There has been much talk about
corruption in public offices and
ways to check it. The ministries are
always where the focus is. Anyone
denying this fact is not sufficiently
sincere. The ministers, as the
political heads of their ministries,
supervise the multibillion naira
projects scattered across the country.

The public has the right to know if
they dipped their fingers in the till
inappropriately while in office. To
that extent, we are strongly of the
opinion that, the public declaration
of assets by ministers can neither be
personal nor discretional.

Source:- Leadership