Mr President; To declare asset or not to declare asset?

roumarouma
edited June 2012 in Political Law

It was reported that the president said the words below in a Presidential media chat over the weekend, do you agree with him? 

“You don’t need to declare assets publicly, otherwise you are playing to the gallery.You don’t need to publicly declare assets. That’s a matter of principle. If I have to declare publicly, it means every polictical office holder will have to declare publicly. And it is not the right thing to do. That is my belief."

“It is not the President’s declaration of assets that would change the economy. There are challenges security, power and revolutionising agriculture. These are areas we should be interested in . Whether Mr. Jonathan publicly declares his assets or not is not the issue.”

Personally, I don't agree with the president that declaration of assets is a matter of principle, on the contrary it is a legal mandate.  Sec 11(1) of the code of conduct for public officers, Part 1, fifth schedule of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is clear and unambiguous on this point.

Comments

  • striplinwarriorstriplinwarrior
    The president forgot to add massive corruption on that list. Corruption is a fundamental problem in this country that has caused every other sector not to work. All those things he mentioned are problems in Nigeria because of corruption. If we are able to get that right, we would have been able to solve more than 50% of this nation's problems including all those ones the president mentioned.
    So, Mr. President, asset declaration is VERY important. That way we can tell when you are out of office whether you stole like ALL of the past leaders of this country, or not. Imagine former public servants like Atiku, or Babangida, how did they acquire their wealth? From their public servant salary or investments, I don't think so. But who's asking them these questions? So, if Mr. President is serious about his so called fight against corruption, he should lead the way. Let him show he's got nothing to hide. Please let him declare his assets and his means of income as a matter of urgency.
  • AsquareAsquare
    I think declaration of asset is very important to show example b4 ur cabinet
  • ErnestlovesuErnestlovesu
    Mr president must be hiding something, thats y he dont want us 2 know his assets. If so wat wil prevent him from doing so. Wil it take him more than a day 2 account 4 his investment, y disive us dat he is fight corruption wen he is leading on de team of corruption. He must be able to account 4 d public fund at his disposal by declaring his assets and liabilities 2 d public whom he promises not let down
  • ikpambeseikpambese
    The presidents respond with due respect shows how Mr president is uninformed and has chosed not to be informed. My reason is because for some 1 who has held political positions from deputy governor to president should not be ignorant of Sec 11(1) of the code of conduct for public officers, Part 1, fifth schedule of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Its a pity that he could not even handle the matter with a bit of intelligence.
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