Code of Conduct Bureau Gets Standard Operational Procedure

In a move to strengthen the internal workings of the Code of Conduct Bureau, President Muhammadu Buhari has approved a Standard Operational Procedure for the agency. The SOP was approved by the president in December 2016 and gazetted as Code of Conduct Bureau Standard Operational Procedure, 2017 on January 30.

This is the first time such an operational procedure would be consummated and approved by a president. Previously, efforts in this direction by the CCB executive council had always been sabotaged by the civil servants, who thought the agency should operate as a routine ministry contrary to the operational structure which the constitution intended.

But after a careful vetting by the Attorney General and the Minister of Justice and the legal team in the Presidency, the SOP was approved.

Under the SOP, the chairman and members of the CCB, being referred to as the “Bureau Executive Council” in the document, is the “supreme and decision making authority” of the agency responsible for the “full control and management” of its funds.

The main features of the SOP include more proactive provisions for asset investigation and tracking, devolution of activities to the state offices of CCB, and strengthening of CCB’s position as the only anti-corruption agency that does not report to any government officer, including the President.