War Against Corruption: CCB Arraigns Governor’s Chief of Staff, Probes Ministers, PSs, LG Council Chairmen
By Editor
The Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) has intensified its anti-corruption campaign by arraigning a state governor’s Chief of Staff before the Code of Conduct Tribunal over alleged violations of public service ethics and asset declaration laws.
The Bureau has also launched investigations into five Local Government Council Chairmen over the management and use of their councils’ allocations.
CCB aalso charged citizens to avail themselves of the newly unveiled information portal to question public officers and stop corruption in the system.
Chairman of the CCB, Dr. Abdullahi Bello, disclosed this on Thursday during the closing ceremony of the Agora Policy Writing Fellowship and the unveiling of the Local Governance Accountability Portal and Policy Registry in Abuja.
Although Bello did not disclose the identities of the governor’s Chief of Staff or the council chairmen under investigation, he revealed that the Bureau has referred several cases to the Code of Conduct Tribunal in recent months.
According to him, the CCB has also secured the forfeiture of several assets linked to public officials, including a property located in London.
“As part of our enforcement drive, the Bureau has referred numerous cases to the Code of Conduct Tribunal, and on Wednesday, we arraigned the Chief of Staff to a state governor before the Tribunal,” Bello said.
Bello further disclosed that the Bureau recently concluded the verification of asset declarations submitted by 19 ministers, 37 permanent secretaries, 20 heads of government agencies, and 32 other senior public officials classified as high-risk officers.
He also announced that the Bureau’s Online Asset and Liabilities Declaration System is ready for deployment and testing. The digital platform is expected to serve as a central database for asset declarations submitted by public servants across Nigeria, strengthening transparency and compliance.
Speaking at the event, the Special Adviser to the President on Policy Coordination and Head of the Central Results Delivery Coordination Unit, Hadiza Bala Usman, said the Federal Government has developed a National Policy Coordination Framework aimed at improving policy coherence, accountability, and coordination across Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs).
She explained that the framework is designed to address persistent challenges in public administration, including overlapping responsibilities, weak inter-agency coordination, unclear reporting structures, and implementation delays.
“The objective is to ensure that policies and programmes are aligned with national priorities, responsibilities are clearly assigned, progress is effectively monitored, and government institutions are held accountable for results,” she said.
Also speaking, Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, described the newly launched Local Governance Accountability Portal as a major milestone in promoting transparency and accountability at the grassroots.
Represented by the EFCC Director of Public Affairs, Wilson Uwujaren, Olukoyede said the platform would end the longstanding secrecy surrounding the management of public funds by local government councils.
He noted that citizens have historically had limited access to information on federal allocations, internally generated revenue, and expenditure patterns at the local government level, a situation that has weakened public accountability.
According to him, the new portal will provide free public access to local government allocation records dating back to 1999, as well as profiles of local councils and details of elected officials.
“When citizens have access to information, they are better positioned to demand accountability from public officials,” Olukoyede said.
