For the Nigerian youth watching his brother’s back, the
Whistleblower Policy is snitching at its highest level; for the old and optimists,
it is a policy largely overdue; Wikipedia online describes a whistleblower
(also known as a whistle-blower or whistle blower) as a person who exposes any
kind of information or activity that is deemed illegal, unethical, or not
correct within an organization that is either private or public. ... Because of
this, a number of laws exist to protect whistleblowers. In Nigeria, the
federal government defines a whistleblower as a person who voluntarily
discloses to the Federal Government of Nigeria, through the Federal Ministry of
Finance, a possible misconduct or violation that has occurred, is ongoing, or
is about to occur with specific concerns which are in the public interest.
The Whistleblower Protection
Bill has twice failed to receive the necessary support in the 6th
and 7th Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It is alleged
that Senators of the two sessions blocked the passage of the bill based on the
rationale that it could be used as a tool for witch-hunt. They argued further
that the country was not ripe for such a law.
A former legislator, Ganiyu Solomon had sponsored the
Whistleblowers Protection Bill first as a Member of the House of
Representatives, and consequently as a Senator in 2008. Hon. Halims Agoda also
sponsored a similar bill, Safeguarded Disclosure (Whistle Blowers, Special
Provisions, Etc.) Bill, 2009.
Interestingly, the Senate Bill sponsored by Sen. Ganiyu
Solomon was among the 46 Bills passed by the past Senate in record time but was
refused assent by former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015. With the coming
of the President Buhari in the same year, it was thought that the bill, given
its anti-corruption tendencies shall be considered expressly for executive
assent. However, the proposed law did not get the necessary approval.
Recently, in the 8th Senate, its members voted
overwhelmingly in favor of two related bills in this regard, to allow their
consolidation scale the crucial second reading. The two bills consolidated
include, “A Bill for an Act to Protect Persons Making Disclosures for Public
Interest and Others From Reappraisal” sponsored by Senator Abiodun Olujimi
(Ekiti South) and “A Bill for an Act to Provide for the Establishment and
Operation of a Programme to Enable Certain Persons to Receive Protection in Relation
to Certain Inquiries, Investigations or Prosecutions and for Matters Connected
Therewith, 2016” proposed by Senator Isiaka Adeleke (Osun West).
The Bills generally seek to provide amongst others, the
manner in which individuals may, in the public interest, disclose information that
relates to unlawful or other illegal conduct or corrupt practices of others; to
provide for the protection against victimization of persons who make these
disclosures. The proposed law(s) defines the nature of an impropriety that
qualifies for disclosure, the procedure for disclosure and the protection that
would be given a whistleblower by government agencies.
On the 21st of December 2016, the Federal Ministry
of Finance launched the whistleblower programme to encourage anyone with
information about a violation of financial regulations, mismanagement of public
funds and assets, financial malpractice, fraud and theft to report it.
According to the Mrs. Kemi Adeseun, anyone who has authentic
information about violation, misconduct, or improper activity which can impact
negatively on the Nigerian people and government should report it through one
or the other of three channels: SMS - 09098067946 Email - whistle@finance.gov.ng web - http://whistle.finance.gov.ng. Phone Calls
can also go through on Monday - Friday (10:00am to 3:00pm) except on public
holidays.
The reward for blowing a whistle ensures that the whistle-blower
will get between 2.5 per cent (minimum) and five per cent (maximum) of the
recovered loot, provided that “there is a voluntary return of stolen or
concealed public funds or assets on the account of the information provided”.
According to the Minister of Information, Mr. Lai Mohammed, the
whistle-blower policy had started yielding fruits, with the recovery of US$151
million and N8billion. In his words, “the looted funds, which do not include
the $9.2 million in cash allegedly owned by a former Group Managing Director of
the NNPC (which was also a dividend of the whistle-blower policy), were
recovered from just three sources through whistle-blowers who gave actionable
information to the office of the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of
the Federation. The biggest amount of $136,676,600.51 was recovered from an
account in a commercial bank, where the money was kept under an apparently fake
account name, followed by N7billion and $15million from another person and N1billion from
yet another.”
For you to be guaranteed as a whistleblower, initiators of
this policy have put a caveat which says, before you blow that whistle and
expect protection or compensation, it will be advisable to wait until the
government has completed the process of enacting a whistle-blower policy that
is backed by law. In other words, you must wait for the National Assembly,
ever so conscious of its own self-protection, to enact a bill to that effect.
