Civil society organization Fixing The Future has urged President-elect Bola Tinubu, his deputy Kashim Shettima, governors, and other public officials to declare their assets before the May 29 inauguration of a new administration.

The group has asked politicians to comply with the law on asset declaration and declare assets of their spouses and unmarried children under the age of 21 as stipulated by the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act.

The call follows revelations that public officials only declare their personal assets and exclude those belonging to household members in violation of the existing law.

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According to the Executive Director of Fixing The Future, Stanley Ekpa, about 94% of public officials do not comply with the full disclosure of assets and liabilities required by Section 15(1)(c) of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act.

The organization believes that unless the nation’s asset declaration and verification system becomes efficient, contract and procurement corruption will not stop.

The group highlighted that corruption is costly, with approximately 45% of the $13 trillion governments spend on public projects across Africa lost to contract corruption.

Nigeria loses over $7 billion to corruption yearly, which is equivalent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of five countries in Africa.

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Corruption drains public finances, affects governance efficiency, and lowers the standard of living.

Fixing The Future has planned to hold a National Symposium on Asset Declaration and Declared Asset Verification to raise awareness among outgoing, incoming, and existing public officials on the need to comply fully with legal requirements for asset declaration.