The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ola Olukoyede, has revealed that some public officials are using a new scheme called “anticipatory declaration of assets” to justify future embezzlement. Olukoyede made this disclosure during a virtual tool launch for the Code of Conduct for Public Officers, a collaboration between the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) and the Technical Unit on Good Governance and Anti-corruption Reforms (TUGAR).
Olukoyede explained the scheme by citing a recent investigation where a public officer declared a property worth over N3 billion that was not yet built. The declared address on the CCB form was different from the actual location of the property. “We discovered that the person declared the property when the property was not in existence,” he said, urging the CCB to use innovative investigative methods to counter such fraudulent activities.
At the same event, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, praised the new virtual tool as a “significant milestone” in digitizing public conduct investigations. He emphasized that the tool would promote “preventive compliance and awareness,” and urged public servants to embrace it.
Echoing this sentiment, the Head of Service, Mrs. Didi Esther Walson-Jack, highlighted the importance of leveraging technology for faster, smarter, and more transparent solutions. She stressed that “ethical governance is not optional” and that the tool’s accessibility and ease of use would promote transparency and compliance tracking.
According to the CCB Chairman, Abdullahi Usman Bello, the new virtual tool aims to hold public officers accountable and educate them on the rules and regulations guiding their conduct, ensuring they perform their duties with integrity.
