The Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) will replace its paper-based asset declaration process with a digital system designed to speed up verification and strengthen anti-corruption oversight, the agency said on Tuesday.
CCB Chairman Abdullahi Bello announced the reform at a validation workshop in Abuja, describing the existing system as outdated and ineffective. He said public officers’ declarations would now be automatically cross-checked against multiple national databases, including the Corporate Affairs Commission, land registries and financial institutions.
“The old story must end,” Bello said. “Will Nigeria finally have a world-class, corruption-resistant asset declaration system? My answer is a resounding yes.”
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According to him, the new Asset and Liability Declaration System will detect undeclared companies, properties and income streams in real time, reducing reliance on manually filled forms that, he said, were “rarely analysed and rarely used as the powerful anti-corruption tool they were meant to be.”
Bello added that the platform will draw on the work of the bureau’s Forensic Accounting Unit and eliminate the need for officials to list every asset manually. “You won’t need to declare every property or company you own — the system will show it,” he said.
Senator Neda Imasuen, chairman of the Senate Committee on Ethics, Code of Conduct and Public Petitions, welcomed the initiative and its proposed funding model. He noted that the bureau often struggled to finance even basic tasks such as printing declaration forms.
“It’s time we depart from this,” Imasuen said, adding that a small fee on declarations would help ensure financial sustainability. He pledged the National Assembly’s continued backing for the rollout.
The digital platform is expected to become fully operational after ongoing validation and harmonisation sessions with relevant stakeholders.
