In a bid to deepen the ongoing anti-graft crusade, the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) and the Estate Surveyors and Valuers Registration Board are collaborating to implement the Asset Declaration of public office holders and Federal Civil servants across the country.
Under the new arrangement, all political appointees and workers are to obtain and attach property certificates of all assets declared in the Asset Declaration forms, to be endorsed by certified surveyors and valuers.
William Odudu, chairman, Estate Surveyors and Valuers Registration Board of Nigeria (ESVARBON), told BusinessDay that the policy would be unveiled after the Board’s approval this month (April).
According to Odudu, registered surveyors and valuers are to ascertain the veracity of the property declared on assumption of office by the declarant, which will be subjected to verification.
“We are going to have a policy put in place as a regulatory body, which is the Estate Surveyors and Valuers Registration Board. We will now make it compulsory for a property that is going to be registered to carry a valuation certificate that will be signed by a registered estate Surveyor and valuer. So you won’t be declaring false values. For you to go and register your property, you must carry the correct value.
“The law in paragraph 4 of the Asset Declaration form stipulates that they must indicate the property, the location and the market value. Who determines the market value is the surveyor not the declarant. So, we are now talking and discussing with the Code of Conduct Bureau that any asset that is declared, must carry a valuation certificate by a registered estate surveyor and valuer and that is to be done by the Bureau not the individual.
“When you submit your form, there will be clear indication that the Bureau has power to verify, determine and value the asset. Our registered surveyors are going to be involved in that exercise. We are going to work in conjunction with the Code of Conduct Bureau, so that anybody declaring, whether in the local level, state level, the national level, a surveyor will go and verify, document and value the assets,” Odudu explained.
Odudu further stated that the Board does not require fresh approval of the National Assembly to implement the policy and observed that the Act establishing the institute, empowers it to discharge the functions.
He assured that the initiative when operational, would reduce the spate of false declarations made by many highly-placed Nigerians, particularly politicians, who through their legal practitioners, indulge in falsification of asset with the intention of defrauding the government evading taxes.
To avoid compromise, the ESVARBON chairman underscored the need for the Bureau to take sole responsibility for financing the verification exercise, stressing that “if you say individuals should pay, some may resist it. We are going to make it a nominal sum, to make sure there’s no complaint and we want to encourage the Code of Conduct Bureau to pay on behalf of those that are declaring.
“So government will make funds available for that purpose and we are going to make it very simple and affordable to all those who are going to declare because if you allow the person declaring to pay, he might want to influence the surveyor. So you don’t even need to know the surveyor, once you have declared your form is with the Code of Conduct, the Code of Conduct will have a list of surveyors.”
He said to ensure compliance, the board would set up an enforcement committee, adding that anyone who flouts the rule would be recommended for prosecution before the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT). “We are going to have a Committee set up to enforce the use of this new policy we are putting in place. So if you falter, we have an investigative panel of the Board that will look into your issue and if you are found culpable, your matter will be referred to the tribunal and that tribunal can remove your name from the register of the institute,” Odudu told BusinessDay.
KEHINDE AKINTOLA
