IT is a well-known fact that corruption is a major factor hindering the development of Nigeria, and unless a ruthless war is waged against it, we shall continue to wallow in the cesspool of poverty and underdevelopment.
Although the term corruption encompasses many vices, for the purpose of this article which deals with the declaration of assets, we shall limit the term to stealing of public funds and fraudulent acquisition of material property by using one’s exalted public office. This article in the main is in support of PUBLIC declaration of assets by Buhari’s ministers as espoused by one of The Nationnewspaper’s most forthright and incisive columnists – Steve Osuji in his column of Friday, November 6, under the title Ministers: Of baron politicians and assets declaration. Corruption in the form of looting of public treasury by public office holders is so endemic and adamantine that unless and until corruption and thieving public office holders are ruthlessly dealt with, there is certainly no hope of salvaging this country for the present generation of Nigerians, let alone for future ones. No matter how good development projects are on paper, unless there are transparently honest public officers to execute such laudable programmes, funds meant for such projects would ultimately be stolen.
It is a globally received wisdom that corruption has almost grown to the status of a state policy in Nigeria, especially in the recent past. Therefore no method – no matter how seemingly unorthodox – should be spared in waging a relentless war against this cancerous monster – corruption – which will inexorably lead to the demise of this country if left unchecked in its destructive path of festering metastasis.
Ministers and similar public office holders should declare their assets PUBLICLY. Yes, the constitution may not expressly say assets should be declared publicly. However, a constitutional requirement is often the irreducible minimum. What parents would advise their children to strive for minimum cut-off point of 200 in UTME for university admission? Of course, 200 is the irreducible minimum which we all know is almost certainly not good enough for admission into most universities. Similarly, our public office holders should not be content with just the irreducible minimum moral requirement, but should aim at several notches above the minimum requirement. That is precisely is the wisdom in what President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo have done. The ministers, if they are truly on the same page with the president and vice president in the fight against corruption, should also move several notches above the irreducible minimum in the scale of morality by declaring their assets PUBLICLY, if indeed they have nothing to hide. Any minister who can stand to account for every kobo in his or her current assets, or is not planning anticipatory acquisition of assets during his or her ministerial tenure, should have no problem whatsoever in declaring his or her assets PUBLICLY NOW.
All potential appointees for public offices must be required to declare their assets publicly. Any potential appointees who are opposed to their assets being published publicly should be dropped even before their names are submitted to the security agencies for clearance. Public declaration of assets by political appointees is an effective deterrent against corrupt or corrupt-minded individuals seeking public offices. As has been noted, public declaration of assets should be before the commencement and at the end of the tenure of political appointees. The reason for declaring their assets publicly TWICE is to enable the citizens whom they earlier swore to serve selflessly and honestly to assess their stewardship by comparing their assets at the end of their tenure with what they were at the commencement.
It should be emphasised that all public declaration of assets before the commencement and at the expiration of a public assignment should include assets owned by the wife or wives as well as the children of the public office appointees, provided such children are either still in their minority or existentially dependent on such political office appointees. These measures should not be considered too stringent because there is a level at which the life of a public officer can no longer be considered private. In any case, anyone who considers these measures too intrusive of his or her privacy could simply decline to serve; public office is neither a birthright nor military assignment. Is it not said that he who cannot stand the smoke must never venture into the kitchen?
Since CHANGE is the ideological battle cry of the APC and ‘difference’ is inherently embedded in CHANGE, the newly sworn-in ministers should set this ‘difference’ in motion. How? By declaring their assets PUBLICLY for a change, thereby raising the standard of public morality beyond the irreducible minimum standard of declaring their assets privately before the Code of Conduct Bureau. Nigeria now needs leaders not of middling moral quotient, but leaders who are prepared to exceed minimum moral requirements.
I strongly recommend that a clause be inserted in the constitution, making public declaration of assets a sine qua non for appointments into public offices such as president, vice president, governors, deputy governors, cabinet positions (ministers, SGF, chief of staff, etc), INEC chairman, state commissioners, headship of NNPC, Customs and such other positions that may be deemed sensitive and susceptible to looting of public treasury. Such a clause in the constitution should not only be devoid of encryption in legal obfuscation, but be simple, decipherable and idiot – proof without any ambiguity or equivocation.
In conclusion, may I humbly but resolutely advise the ministers to choose the path of rectitude, follow the example of President Buhari by declaring their assets PUBLICLY, thereby heralding the birth of a new national ethos of public morality. God bless Nigeria.
NATION
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