30 Days In Office: Some Governors Refuse To Declare Assets

Some state governors have refused to declare their assets 30 days after assuming office, the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) has revealed.

The bureau is mandated by law to maintain a high standard of public morality in the conduct of government business by ensuring that public officers conform to the highest standard of accountability.

The CCB chairman, Sam Saba, told the News Agency of Nigeria that the bureau is having problems with some governors who have yet to declare their assets one month after assuming office. However, he refused to mention the erring governors by name.

He said: “The governors are not even supposed to start work as political office holders until they declare their assets. It is provided in Section 185 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended.

“It reads that; a person elected to the office of a governor of a state shall not begin to perform the function of that office until he has declared his assets and liabilities.”

Saba said that despite this, some governors were inaugurated without doing so. He attributed this to ignorance of this section by the governors.

“It is not like they are not willing to declare, but because of the erroneous impression that they have up to three months within which to declare their assets and liabilities.

“But the issue is that they are supposed to have declared before being sworn in as governors,” he added.