Assets of civil servants not promptly and properly declared on assumption of office may henceforth be confiscated to government, the rules of the Code of Conduct Bureau has now stipulated.
Public workers have therefore been enjoined to conform to the rules and regulations guiding asset declaration forms, as there are now strict sanctions and penalties for defaulters.
The Schedule Officer of the Ogun State Operations of the Code of Conduct Bureau, Mr. Abiola Olatunde made this known at a session with staffers of the State Independent Electoral Commission (OGSIEC) in Abeokuta recently.
Olatunde said the essence of his visit to OGSIEC was to re-educate the staffers on the significance of filling the forms, which he noted, many officers of the civil service took with levity.
He pointed out that the subsisting rule of the Code of Conduct Bureau is that every officer employed by government must fill and submit the asset declaration forms within the expiration of 30 days.
According to him “the days of collecting forms and not submitting are long gone, as the Federal Government through Code of Conduct Bureau has placed penalties for such individuals to be charged to court and convicted for non-declaration of Assets”.
The Schedule Officer said public workers who fail to properly declare their assets, would have them confiscated by the government.
Speaking earlier, an officer in charge of Local Government Operation, Mr. Akin Omolade, said “the declaration forms are to be completed every four years and by the time you will be retiring, you must have filled at least a total of four forms before any entitlement can be processed by the government”.
While taking participants through the code of conduct, Omolade warned that officers should not engage in any business other than Agriculture, saying “any foreign account or property obtained in any foreign countries must be declared in the country’s currency”.
Remarking on behalf of OGSIEC staffers, Director, Planning, Research and Statistics, Mrs. Moyosore Fadimu appreciated the Bureau for shedding more light on the significance of the forms.
Mrs. Fadimu assured that officers of OGSIEC would comply with the rules by ensuring that their forms are duly completed and submitted within the stipulated time.
