A Civil Society Organisation, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), has said that the declaration of assets by Nigeria’s President and his Vice has set the tone for a culture of transparency in governance.
The rights group’s statement is coming a day after President Muhammadu Buhari and the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo made a public declaration of their assets,development that have been trailed by series of reactions.
A statement by SERAP lauds the President and his Vice for the gesture, saying they have demonstrated that transparency in governance is not a mirage.
SERAP said it hoped that “this public declaration of assets by the President and the Vice President would bring about the needed transformation in the institutional framework for fighting corruption in Nigeria”.
The civil rights group also asked the President to ensure that other top government officials and the ministers to be appointed would take a cue from him.
According to a statement released by the Senior Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr Garba Shehu, President Buhari had less than N30 million to his name. He also had only one bank account, with the Union Bank.
It also went ahead to say that the “Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, who had been a successful lawyer before his foray into politics declared a bank balance of about 94 million Naira and 900,000 United States Dollars in his bank accounts”.
