Mr Justine Choon, Director, Code of Conduct Bureau, Adamawa, says assets declaration is mandatory for public officers as part of constitutional requirement.
Choon stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Yola on Thursday.
He said that failure to fill the assets declaration form, over-declaration or under-declaration were offences that would lead someone to answer questions before the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT).
According to him, the bureau go through each and every form to scrutinise them very well to make sure that information given are intact.
“Because it’s a constitutional requirement, it’s not something that you will do at will or wish, it’s a serious business and nobody should joke with that,” he said.
He said government workers were always advised to live up to expectations by declaring their assets and liabilities as and when due.
According to him, the level of compliance has not been good enough in the state as most workers do not declare as and when due.
He added that they should comply with the directives so that their names would not be submitted to the CCT for prosecution.
“Every government worker who is due to declare his or her assets can feel free to visit Code of Conduct Bureau and collect declaration form.
“Because the law says the career civil servant declares once after each and every four years, ranging from the President down to the messengers.
“But for political office holders, they declare assets when they come into office and when they leave, be it elective or appointive,” he said.
He said that the bureau was constituted to ensure high level of accountability, transparency and high level of morality in government business. (NAN)
