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Everyone in public office is expected to be answerable and accountable for his her actions or inactions. Unfortunately, people by nature could be very selfish and to that extent, not many, if any public office holder in Nigeria cares much about accountability. The actions and inactions of public office holders provide evidence that they are allergic to discipline, responsibility, and accountability. In almost every transaction, it is a case of ‘what’s in it for me.’Thus, accountability has become a road less traveled and with impunity of unimaginable dimension. There is no normative ground whereby the level of malfeasances experienced in public office could be justified. I believe Nigeria is about the only country in which accounting numbers (whether in the public or private sectors) don’t speak for themselves. The time has, therefore, become auspicious to introduce a counter-practice to the endemic regime of notorious fiscal and other irresponsibilities.
I am optimistic and believe that the current and future public office holders could be primed to be accountable while in office through the mechanism of the declaration of Personal Financial Statements (PFSs). This is not to discount some of the extant but castrated mechanisms such as the declaration of assets by public office holders. Declaration of assets by all public officers in Nigeria in entrenched in the Code of Conduct for Public officers in Part 1 of the Fifth Schedule to the 1999 Nigerian Constitution (as amended). Every statement contained in asset declarations is expected to be ‘garnished’ with integrity and patriotism. The essence is to ensure that those in office do not ‘balance their personal budgets’ at the expense of the already traumatized masses in Nigeria. Evidence has shown, however, that the provisions are lame as hardly do public office holders comply with them either in the letteror in the spirit. When once in a while they comply, the information supplied is ‘virused.’ It would have been a thing of joy if the provisions were obeyed with the required discipline. The provisions have been utterly disregarded and no one is chagrined to note that the pain inflicted by the situation has reached a crescendo.
It is easy to disregard the provisions relating to asset declaration not because they are ambiguous and complex but because the process lacks structure. There should be a structure that builds up the required information on properties, assets, and liabilities and provides a trail over a period of time such that manipulations would be easy to detect.I guess we should learn from the snail that leaves a trail of slime behind anywhere it goes. Instead of asking for declaration of properties, assets and liabilities, what should be required is declaration of ‘Personal Financial Statements(PFSs)’ThePFSs will provide an opportunity and trail to ascertain what resources an officer has had or is having access to and how the resources were or are being expended and the assets and liabilities built or being built up over a given period. The profiling of one’s net worth should not be based on the spur of the movement. The first of these statements is the ‘statement of cash flow’which takes account of inflows and outflows of cash, say on monthly basis. The net cash flow at the end of the month will either be positive or negative. The second statement isthe ‘personal statement of financial position’. This statement provides a glimpse of the wealth of the individual.The two statements are not mutually exclusive but work together. They jointly provide a trail and proof of the resources available to an individual over a defined time period. Whatever item of transaction that does not go through the personal statement of cash flow should not suddenly appear as an item or reflects an item in the personal statement of financial position. Today is the day we should commence the use of PFSs to secure accountability in Nigeria, especially among public office holders. It is important to ascertain the net worth of public office holders regularly. As a means of securing that, all public officers should be directed henceforth to submit their PFSs duly certified by qualified auditors. Guess what? There would be pandemonium, headache, suicide, high blood pressure, divorce and all such vices. Why? The sources of most of the inflows and outflows would defy tenable explanations. You would find many cases of more outflows than legitimate inflows.What would such a situation imply? Fraud I guess!How would a local government chairman who is just one year in office, for instance, explain the multimillion Naira edifice in his village; when on assumption of office, he had no house?
As in everything in our context, the possibility of collusion between some ethically insane auditors and some unscrupulous public officers cannot be ruled out. The relationship between the auditors and the public officers should be such that should hold liable the auditor(s) for any or all misstatements in any audited PFSs. When the locus of pain arising from fraudulent PFSs is at the doorstep of the auditor, he will observe diligence, integrity and other relevant virtues in the discharge of his responsibilities. Let’s empower public office holders to be accountable. But then, who bells the cat?
Prof. F.O. Iyoha
