AFRICMIL, PRIMORG unveil Partnership to Push for Whistleblower Legislation in Nigeria

To further Nigeria’s fight against corruption, the African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL) and Progressive Impact Organization for Community Development (PRIMORG) have announced a new partnership to strengthen whistleblowing in the country.

The two civil society organizations made this known during a round table meeting at PRIMORG’s office complex in Abuja.

Speaking during the meeting, the Coordinator of AFRICMIL, Dr. Chido Onumah, noted that whistleblowing remains an indispensable tool needed in the fight against corruption, hence the need to advocate relentlessly for a law protecting whistleblowers and whistleblowing.

Onumah lamented the inability of the 9th National Assembly to strengthen the existing whistleblowing policy and revealed plans for a robust engagement of legislators and the federal government this time.

“The eventual non-passage of the whistleblowing legislation by the last National Assembly was a minus to the fight against corruption. So, there is a need to do a lot of advocacy. Media attention must be on legislation for whistleblowing to bring the issue to the front burner of conversation again.

“There is the need to resurrect the push for whistleblowing law in Nigeria,” Onumah stressed.

He commended PRIMORG for collaborating with AFRICMIL over the years, revealing that “partnership with PRIMORG has been the most effective in the last seven years.”

On his part, the Executive Director of PRIMORG, Augustine Okhiria Agbonsuremi, described the failure of past National Assemblies to get the country a whistleblower law as a disservice and a significant setback to Nigeria’s anti-corruption fight.

Agbonsuremi called for all hands to be on deck in ensuring whistleblowing gets a legal impetus under the current National Assembly led by former Akwa Ibom State governor, Godswill Akpabio, as Senate President and Tajudeen Abbas as Speaker, House of Representatives.

He also welcomed the idea of vigorously engaging legislators, the federal government, civil society groups and citizens on the lingering lack of whistleblowing law in Nigeria.

“We have to start early to engage members of the National Assembly. They will see and understand why we need a law to protect whistleblowers and preserve whistleblowing.

“We will also not relent in engaging Federal Ministries of Finance and Justice, as well as the Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit (PICA). CSOs in Nigeria and beyond will be carried along to drive this reawakening towards legislation for whistleblowing in the country.” Agbonsuremi stated.

He assured AFRICMIL of PRIMORG’s continuous support and dedication towards the success of the whistleblowing project, adding that PRIMORG would use its platforms to popularize the advocacy and push for passage of whistleblowing law.

AFRICMILL and PRIMORG, during the meeting, agreed to embark on joint activities involving stakeholders in the anti-corruption spaces to work towards the realization of a law to strengthen whistleblowing in Nigeria.

The existing whistleblower policy was launched on December 21, 2016, by the Federal Government and facilitated through the Federal Ministry of Finance. Despite calls for the policy to be strengthened with legislation, previous parliaments have been unsuccessful in turning the policy into a law.

Stakeholders call for review of policymaking processes at AFRICMIL roundtable on equitable growth and social inclusion

By Doyin Ojosipe

Stakeholders have called on President Bola Tinubu to consider reviewing and adopting socio-economic policies that will address the peculiar challenges facing Nigerians. They also urged the government to adopt the open government partnership where citizens would have an input in social and economic models that works for them.

They made the call in Abuja at a roundtable organised by the African Centre Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL), in collaboration with Social Development Integrated Centre (Social Action), Centre for Public Policy and Research (CPPR), and the International Institute of Journalism (IIJ).

The roundtable with the theme, New Economic Policymaking for Equitable Growth and Social Inclusion, was sponsored by the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation with the aim of generating discussions around the bad economic state of the country, especially with regard to the removal of fuel subsidy, increased rate of unemployment and rising poverty.

The keynote speaker, Dr Sam Amadi, Director, Abuja School of Social and Political Thoughts, said formulating and making economic decisions should be open for citizen participation as the policies, in the long run, will impact their well-being.

He noted that the abrupt removal of subsidy was not only unwise but has brought untold hardship to Nigerians, affecting every facet of economic development in the country. Amadi stated that the question of what is being subsidized should be considered in light of what drives the economy of a country.

He pointed out that roads which are means of transportation, petrol which is needed by vast majority of economic should be subsidized for higher and better production. He said the harsh policy of government has thrown many into unemployment and majority into penury.

Amadi, an associate professor of law, noted: “We should focus economic development policy around the wellbeing of Nigerian citizens given that the real good economists as three questions: One, what’s happening to poverty, is it reducing or increasing? Two, what happens to employment? Are these policies   going to increase employment of Nigerians or are they going to decrease employment?” Three, how inclusive of citizens are the policies made for them?”

The roundtable featured discussions of his paper by three panelists. Dr Emmanuel Shehu, Director, the International Institute of Journalism (IIJ) advised government to consider the wellness of the country’s large human resource factor and only work towards upping their capacity for an improved economy.

He said, “Another fall out is the human factor, the human resource remains top and its obvious that the economic policies do not really consider this factor.”

He advised government to reconsider the issue of palliatives as it has no noticeable effect on the mass populace. He also called on government to review the minimum wage and adopt models that will benefit the majority rather than a few.

Comrade Hauwa Mustapha, policy analyst and social advocate, said Nigeria is yet to break the chain of dependence on Western dictates of what policies to operate.

She said, “In spite of the series of development plans and economic reform policies post-independence, our reality today is a development path that is bedeviled by the fact that though we changed flags and got our own national anthem, we did not break the chain of economic dependence and slavery. This has been the bane of our development plans. Specifically, our economic policies, though aiming for growth, always leave an outcome that bears no correlation between available resources and the poverty statistics.”

On her part, Comrade Ene Obi, the immediate past Country Director of Action Aid, drew attention to the issue of government’s attitude of overlooking the importance of gender inclusion, noting that the right decisions can not be taken on behalf of people who have their peculiar challenges but are not allowed to decide what works for them.

Earlier in his welcome address, Dr Chido Onumah, Coordinator, AFRICMIL, said the event was put together in view of the alarming rate of unemployment and poverty that have severely depressed the capacity of youths to function optimally.

He said, “Nigeria today faces many economic and social headwinds. The country has the highest unemployment rate in the world with 33.3 of its employable population not finding work to earn income. The country has a youth bulge which means that many of its citizens are young persons who cannot find work to earn a living. The National Bureau for Statistics (NBS) reports that about 45% of Nigerians are living in acute income poverty. 143m Nigerians are multi-dimensionally poor, lacking access to basic education and sanitation.”

In her goodwill message, Comrade Agela Odah, the Country Director of Rosa Luxemburg Foundation commended AFRICMIL for organizing the discussion as its importance cannot be over emphasized. She said to the extent policies affect the wellbeing of society, it is necessary that citizens, especially the youth, are encouraged to have a say in how the country is governed.

Goodwill messages were also delivered by IIJ, Social Action, and CPPR.

Amara Michael, a student of the IIJ who participated in the event was glad that her understanding of how economic issues of the country evolved has been broadened. She wished for more robust engagements.

Coalition expresses concern over lack of inclusivity in ministerial list, vetting process

Press Statement

Wednesday, August 2, 2023:  The Alliance for Deepening Democracy (A4DD) has expressed deep concern over the ongoing process of nomination and appointment of ministers, accusing President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of marginalizing important sectors of the society in his selection of prospective ministers and describing the confirmation hearings at the Senate as a mockery of a process that is meant to assess the suitability of the nominees.

In a statement issued today, the A4DD, a coalition of organizations from various sectors working collaboratively for the consolidation of democracy in Nigeria, noted that in a society where women represent about half of the population, it is unjust and inequitable that only about 25 per cent of the 28 names so far submitted by the President to the Senate for screening are women with no single person with disability on the list, although persons with disabilities make up about 15 percent of the country’s population.

The Alliance insisted that President Tinubu’s failure to comply with even the less onerous government policy, as contained in the National Gender Policy, which specifies a minimum of 35 percent of positions to be reserved for women, was unacceptable as it is evidence of a blatant disregard for the rule of law, fairness, justice and equity.

Saying that the process of appointment of ministers presents the President with a unique opportunity to attempt a correction of the gender discrimination and inequity in the overall make up of government across the country, the Alliance expressed regret that rather than taking advantage of this opportunity, President Tinubu has opted to extend the injustice to the constitution of his cabinet.

It described the situation as unrepresentative and undemocratic and called on the President to ensure that a significant percentage, if not all, of the outstanding number of ministerial nominees are given to women and persons with disabilities.

The Alliance also criticized the practice of submitting names of prospective ministers to the Senate for screening without indicating the portfolios to be assigned to them, saying it is the clearest indication that neither the President nor the Senate is interested in appointing competent persons to manage the affairs of government across different sectors.

The Chair of the Steering Committee of the Alliance, Mr. Edetaen Ojo, who is also the Executive Director of Media Rights Agenda (MRA), said: “We are deeply troubled by this system of appointing ministers where there is no debate at all about who is best qualified to run what and the most important consideration appears to be where the nominees come from and who is loyal to whom. Since the President has not indicated the portfolios that his nominees will occupy, the Senate has no way of assessing their competence or qualifications for the positions that they will ultimately occupy.”

According to him, “For an Administration that claims to be guided by the greater good, this practice makes absolutely no sense as there is no benefit in it for the wider society, beyond the fact that it allows the President and those whom he consults on the appointment of ministers to dispense political patronage as reward or favours to political allies and cronies even when they have no competence or capacity to superintend over any ministry.  It benefits only a few while the rest of the country suffers from the mismanagement that is the direct result of their incompetence.”

The Alliance said it was scandalized by the ongoing confirmation hearings in the Senate where political colleagues, cronies and associates are simply asked to “take a bow” and leave without any effort by members of the Senate to diligently perform their constitutional function of screening the nominees.

It observed that although the Senate oversees and manages the screening process, the function ought to be performed in the interest of and for the benefit of the entire society such that citizens are also able to assess for themselves the qualifications and competence of the nominees through the hearings, adding that the Senate was failing woefully in meeting the interest of citizens on this front.

The Alliance called on the President and the Senate to take urgent steps to reform the process of nominating, vetting and appointing ministers in order to correct these shortcomings, even before the current exercise is concluded.

For Transparency, Accountability, And Sustainable Democracy, Declare Your Assets Now And Make It Public, AFRICMIL Urges President Tinubu

May 30, 2023

Press Release

African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL) wishes to call on President Bola Tinubu to declare his assets in accordance with Paragraph 11 of Part I of the Fifth Schedule to the Constitution and make it public as a way of committing to the genuine fresh beginning he promised Nigerians.

AFRICMIL believes that declaring his assets and making it public would place Mr Tinubu on a much higher moral pedestal than his predecessors who were not on record to have taken any significant action regarding this constitutional obligation.

Besides the moral capital that accompanies such a rare gesture, Mr. Tinubu would be seen to have reinforced belief in the “Renewed Hope” agenda on which his governance plan is anchored, and which was the mantra at every turn in his campaign trail.

The anti-corruption agenda of the Tinubu administration remains vague even though in his inaugural speech President Tinubu said his administration would “take proactive steps such as championing a credit culture to discourage corruption while strengthening the effectiveness and efficiency of the various anti-corruption agencies.”

AFRICMIL looks forward to a more detailed and unambiguous anti-corruption programme and is ready to work with the Tinubu administration to tame the vicious monster of corruption currently ravaging the country.

Before we get a full understanding of the new administration’s trajectory on fighting corruption, we would like to propose to President Tinubu that an important tool for enhancing transparency and accountability and reducing corruption is whistleblowing.

We are disappointed at the failure of the immediate past government to enact a whistleblowing and whistleblower protection law, even though it introduced the whistleblowing policy as one of its anti-corruption strategies in December 2016 and approved a draft whistleblower protection bill in December 2022.

To address this disabling lapse, we are using this opportunity to call on this administration to take steps to sign the whistleblowing and whistleblower protection bill into law without further delay. A whistleblowing law would boost the confidence of citizens to report fraud, block leakages and increase the revenue which the new administration badly needs to sustain effective governance at this time.

AFRICMIL also calls on former president, Muhammadu Buhari, to declare his assets and make it public as a token gesture of redemption for his severely diminished integrity.

This is not the first time AFRICMIL would be requesting elected officers to publicize their assets records as a mark of upholding transparency and accountability in governance through personal example.

In 2011, AFRICMIL dragged the Code of Conduct Bureau to court seeking an order compelling the CCB, within the ambit of the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act, to make available to the public the asset declaration form of President Goodluck Jonathan.

In 2017, AFRICMIL again sued the CCB for refusal to make available the asset details of principal officers of the National Assembly since 2011. Following the unfavorable judgment of Justice Adamu Abdu-Kafarati of the Federal High Court, AFRICMIL took the matter to the Appeal Court. The case has yet to be heard.

AFRICMIL will not relent in its advocacy for good governance through activities that are targeted at holding public officers accountable.

AFRICMIL engages rights defenders at regional conference on whistleblowing, corruption and human rights

 

African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL) took part in a consultation workshop on corruption and human rights organized by the West and Central Africa Regional Office of Amnesty International in Dakar, Senegal, May 8-9.

AFRICMIL was represented by the coordinator, Dr. Chido Onumah, and senior programme officer, Godwin Onyeacholem. During the brainstorming session on regional challenges and priorities, Onumah introduced AFRICMIL’s Corruption Anonymous (CORA) whistleblowing project and shared the organization’s experience on how the human rights of whistleblowers are being violated by powerful individuals and state institutions in Nigeria.

L-R: Godwin Onyeacholem (Acting Program Manager, AFRICMIL), Anas Aremeyaw Anas (Journalist), Dr Chido Onumah (Coordinator, AFRICMIL)

 

Onumah reminded participants that although whistleblowing drove free speech, it is unfortunate that whistleblower protection laws in all jurisdictions are written from the perspective of fraud, corruption, and other illegalities without considering the human right element of whistleblowing. He said beyond serving as a tool for checking fraud, corruption and other forms of wrongdoing, whistleblowing is a fundamental human right of freedom of expression.

According to Dr. Liliane Mouan, Senior Advisor on Corruption and Human rights, West and Central Africa Regional Office, Amnesty International (AI), the objectives of the two-day workshop were to exchange ideas and share experiences on the relationship between corruption and human rights, discuss how corruption affects human rights, and the potential for human rights law in addressing corruption.

About 50 participants attended the workshop held at the Le Ndiambour Hotel et Residence in the heart of Dakar. Participants included representatives of regional and international human rights and anti-corruption bodies, including Transparency International (TI), The Platform to Protect Whistleblowers in Africa (PPLAAF), and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), representatives of human rights and anti-corruption civil society networks, AI’s staff and senior leadership team, investigative journalists and whistleblowers, including Anas Aremeyaw Anas, and global human rights defenders.

The keynote speakers were Samuel Kaninda, Africa Regional Advisor, Transparency International, whose paper was titled “Overview of Corruption in Africa,” and Dr. Mouan with a paper themed “Corruption and Human Rights at Amnesty International: A Brief Introduction.”

 

 

The hybrid workshop featured five sessions, with speakers from different parts of the world exploring themes in different areas of corruption and human rights. Whistleblowing and whistleblower protection was a recurring theme in most of the conversations with participants putting forward new ideas to strengthen the nexus between corruption and human rights.

Dr Mouan noted that the West and Central Africa Office of Amnesty International was committed to deepening awareness about the link between corruption and human rights in West and Central Africa. “Specifically, the objective of the two-year pilot project on corruption and human rights which it launched in 2022 is to tackle corruption and its human rights consequences, as well as protect those who denounce corruption and its human rights impacts in the two sub-regions, she said.

The workshop concluded that whistleblowers and journalists are human rights defenders who deserve full protection.

Top
Social media & sharing icons powered by UltimatelySocial