CISLAC trains journalists, CSOs on assets declaration

CISLAC says its one-day training of journalists will amplify the need for asset declaration which will in turn push candidates to publicly declare their assets.

The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre held the training on Tuesday for journalists and on Thursday for civil society organisations.

CISLAC believes that the lack of public data on the assets of candidates for public offices has made it difficult to track the corrupt practices of politicians.

“Going by the current situation of things, corruption is endemic at various levels, and with the upcoming 2023 general elections, there is an urgent need for [candidates] to prioritize accountability by publishing details of their assets and liabilities to promote integrity in public service,” said Comrade Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, Executive Director of CISLAC.

The training acquainted journalists with different measures to nudge politicians to fully comply with the asset declaration laws by the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB).

The training also emphasized the need for journalists to investigate past leaks of non-compliance of political aspirants with asset declaration requirements.

According to Mr Rafsanjani, the Pandora and Panama paper leaks have shown how Nigerian politicians systematically breach asset declaration requirements and end up with unexplained wealth stashed abroad.

In most cases, he added, these politicians use the stolen assets to serve illegal political entrepreneurship and illicit funding of political activities such as vote trading, and electoral bribery, which have the potential of being detrimental to free and fair elections.

“Hence, to prevent conflict of interest and detect unjustified assets CISLAC calls for the amplifying of asset declaration as an issue in the front burner during the elections,” he said.