By Doyin Ojosipe
Investigations have shown that the attitude of the Federal Government towards operationalization of the whistleblowing policy was responsible for the dwindling interest of Nigerians in the whistleblowing policy.
A survey by the African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL) revealed that although many Nigerians are aware of the whistleblowing policy, they are unwilling to blow the whistle.
The survey showed that 3 out of every 4 respondents who were interviewed have stopped exposing corrupt individuals despite agreeing that corruption had become a menace that requires urgent attention.
The research which sampled 7000 respondents was conducted in seven project location states while 21 key informants were sampled in five of the largest states.
The report also indicated that although most whistle-blowers submitted tips for personal gains, they would rather not report corrupt practices without adequate legal backing by the Federal Government.
The whistleblowing policy was introduced by the Federal Government in 2016 as a mechanism for combating corruption. The initiative was greeted with cheers by citizens because it was the first time citizens were being invited to join the fight against corruption. Government had also promised to reward whistle-blowers whose tips led to the recovery of stolen public funds.
The survey, which reflects the thoughts of citizens, indicates that Nigerians think the whistleblowing policy may have been hijacked by political actors to punish their opponents.
Officials of the antigraft agencies were alleged to be usually dragging their feet and only swinging into action after corrupt individuals who had been reported had been able to cover their tracks, or swiftly responding when the alleged fraudster is a perceived political enemy.
One of the reasons identified for reduced effectiveness of the whistleblowing policy is the continuous reprisals against whistleblowers who are being ignored by the government who had initially called citizens to report fraud. There also are no sanctions against the perpetrators of corruption, worsened by the slow pace of legislators in passing the whistleblowing and witness protection bill into law.
While citizens took advantage of the policy by exposing corrupt individuals and their activities, there are complaints of government’s reluctance to keep to the bargain by either delaying reward for whistleblowers ‘unnecessarily’ or outright reneging on its promise.
Murtala Ibrahim, an internal auditor at the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) who shared his ordeal after blowing the whistle, said the actions of government actors were quite discouraging and frustrating. Finding no relief any kind from the managers of the whistleblowing policy, Federal Ministry of Works which supervises the bank and the House of Representatives, he has been forced to take the matter to court for justice to be done.
In his welcome address at the launch of the survey on 5 years of whistleblowing policy in Nigeria, Dr Chido Onumah, Coordinator of AFRICMIL said the objective of the survey was to determine the impact of the operationalisation of the whistleblowing policy in addressing corrupt practices and wrongdoing.
He said the report’s key learning was meant to inform how whistleblowing would affect the fight against corruption in Nigeria as the goal was to strengthen the policy to become an acceptable tool for exposing corruption and other forms of wrongdoing that endangers the society
Onumah also seized the opportunity to announce the addition of a new safe and secure whistleblowing platform developed in collaboration with the Yar’Adua Foundation. He said the platform would enable citizens to submit tips anonymously when it is launched.
Prof. Sadiq Raddah, Executive Secretary, Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), said his committee was concerned about the fight against corruption and will continue to support the policy as PACAC was convinced that without the anti-graft war there may be no country in the nearest future.
He maintained that ridding the country off corruption was every citizen’s duty as the antigraft agencies in the country could not be everywhere the way corrupt individuals are all over the country. He said since the whistleblowing policy was announced, there had been some noticeable change.
He also urged whistleblowers not to be afraid nor be careless by openly discussing their tips thereby breaching the confidentiality code. He added that their act ought to be a patriotic act devoid of some personal motives. “If we really want to blow the whistle, we have to do it in all sincerity, in trying to help our country,” he said.
He said there were existing laws on how whistle should be blown and that there was no cause for alarm as regards legalisation of the whistleblowing policy.
Dayo Olaide, Deputy Country Director, MacArthur Foundation said that the Foundation took the decision to support whistleblowing to enable citizens’ inclusiveness in the fight against corruption. He said unless Nigeria was able to deal with the lack of accountability, irrespective of good investment in the health, education and petroleum and power sector, the country would continue to wallow in underdevelopment.
Stephanie Adams-Douglas, Program Officer, Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism (PTCIJ) said the protection of journalists was so critical to the fight against corruption that the PTCIJ initiated the formation of the Coalition for Whistleblowers Protection and Press Freedom (CWPPF) in 2018. She noted that many whistleblowers had been penalised for daring to blow the whistle.
In his contribution, Olayinka Aiyegbayo, Head, Corruption Monitoring and Evaluation Division (CMED) at the Independent Corrupt Practices & Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), said the Commission had been working in collaboration with AFRICMIL to encourage the culture of whistleblowing. He said in a bid to institutionalise whistleblowing, the ICPC developed and established monitoring tools tagged Ethics and Integrity Compliance Scorecard to assess the level of compliance of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to ethics and integrity in the course of their duties.
He said the move had also informed the creation of an Anonymous Reporting System (ARS) and circular issued by the head of service to MDAs for the purpose of whistleblowing. He said ICPC had been steadfast in defending the interest of whistleblowers.
Dr Garba Abari, DG of National Orientation Agency (NOA) said the Agency had partnered with virtually all anti-graft agencies, including notable anti-corruption Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in advocating against corrupt practices. Special Advisor to the DG, David Akoji, who represented him said AFRICMIL’s advocacy intervention during the Covid19 period led to receiving few tips that exposed some security men who were diverting Covid19 palliatives.
He said the Agency was always open to work with AFRICMIL to popularise the whistleblowing policy.
