Some civil society organizations in Nigeria have asked President Bola Tinubu to publicly declare his asset.
According to the Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA), Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL) and the Centre for Anti-corruption and Open Leadership (CACOL), the move would help send a signal to his appointees on the need to ensure accountability.
Chairman of HEDA, Lanre Suraj, said that though the law might not compel any public officer to declare his or her assets to the public, the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act should be able to allow the public access to the details of assets declared by anybody.
“Some human rights and civil society bodies had approached the court to ensure that CCB released the assets declaration form of President Tinubu, we came out with nothing,” Suraj said.
Similarly, SERAP insisted that President Tinubu needed to start with a clean slate by promptly making public details of his assets and to also encourage his vice to do so.
SERAP’s deputy director, Oludare, urged President Tinubu to publicly provide details of his assets, income, investments and liabilities and that of his vice and others to the Nigerian public, which according to him would allow Nigerians to know his real worth.
Chairman and coordinator of AFRICMIL, Dr Chido Onumah, also urged President Tinubu, to declare his assets in accordance with Paragraph 11 of Part I of the Fifth Schedule to the Constitution and make it public as a way of committing to the genuine fresh beginning he promised Nigerians.
Human rights lawyer, Goddy Uwazurike, doubted if the current National Assembly would amend the 1999 Constitution to compel any public officer to declare his or her assets publicly. Uwazurike, however, said President Tinubu should lead by example.
Chairman of CACOL, Debo Adeniran, stated that the onus is on the media and civil society organisations to lead the crusade on how the Constitution would be amended to compel public officers to declare their assets to Nigerians.
“That’s why corruption will be difficult to eradicate because we do not know what a public officer worth before and after their tenure. We are only talking of morality and the need for President Tinubu to lead by example and not from the aspect of what the law says,” Adeniran said.
