FG SAYS ASSET DECLARATION EXERCISE NOT A WITCH-HUNTING INSTRUMENT OR STEP TO MAKE PEOPLE POOR 07-10-24
By Sadiq Aminu The Federal government says asset declaration exercise is not a witch-hunting instrument or step to make people poor.
The Director, Code of Conduct Bureau, in Ananbra state, Mr Micheal Okwose made the clarification when he paid an advocacy visit to the Ministry of Housing at the state secretariat in Awka.
According to him, the sensitization visit was part of effort to address the issue of corruption in the public sector through administering the asset declaration form.
Mr Okwuosa noted that the aim of distributing the provision of the Code of Conducts Forms through asset declaration to public officers was to ensure that their behaviors and actions in Federal, State or the Local Government system conform with the public modality and accountability rules.
He stated that the Bearau implements government policies and programmes in an honest, transparent and accountability manner that will impact positively in the lives of people in the various government offices.
In a remark, the Commissioner for Housing in Anambra state , Mr Pauly Onyeka emphasized the importance of accountability and transparency by public office holders as a measure that would exalt them before the public in future.
The Commissioner stated that if any country must be progressive, the citizens must regard asset declaration exercise as a civic responsibility for any official or government personell.
Mr Onyeka said that asset declaration would also help public office holders to stem the issue of corruption knowing that from time to time, they will give account upon entering and leaving office.
“As you do your asset declaration appropriately, by the time you are leaving, the difference will now be used as a check to estimate what you have gotten between the period you have worked and you will be exalted. However, if you did not declare, it will not be known as it will help to keep your record clean,” he said.
He called on the bureau to strategize their advocacy visits to reduce tension as some people run away from coming for declaration with the conclusion that they will be persecuted.
Africa247 correspondent reports that the Code of Conducts Director in Ananbra state later took time to explain the items in the documents and how they are filled even as he warned against false data, which the bureau would not take lightly.