Tinubu raises CCB budget from N3bn to N20bn

President Bola Tinubu has approved a massive increase in the Code of Conduct Bureau’s (CCB) budget from N3 billion to N20 billion.

The CCB Chairman, Dr Abubakar Bello, disclosed this in Abuja on Sunday, December 14, 2025.

Bello said the increase was to overhaul the nation’s outdated asset declaration system, strengthen verification and enforcement to make the bureau more virile.

He added that the budget increase was necessary to fund technological upgrades, improve the bureau’s working environment and strengthen verification processes and enhance enforcement capacity.

The CCB chairman recalled that when he assumed office, he discovered that asset declaration was still largely manual, relying on paper forms that were scarce, expensive to print and difficult to store, analyse, and verify.

To address the challenge, Bello said the bureau adopted a temporary model inspired by Kenya, uploading asset declaration forms on its website for public servants to download.

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The CCB boss said the method only solved the problem of availability, not the deeper issue of a manual system.

Bello revealed that the bureau is now at an advanced stage of developing a fully online asset declaration platform, following extensive consultations with stakeholders.

He said the system, expected to be ready by the first quarter of 2026, will allow public servants to declare assets from anywhere in the world.

The CCB chairman said the digital platform will be a “game changer” because it will link directly with key databases.

According to him, the platform will link, Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Bank Verification Number (BVN) system, land registries, and other government records to enable instant verification.

Bello added that artificial intelligence will also be deployed to analyse asset declarations, compare net worth at the beginning and end of a public servant’s tenure.

The Star