By Doyin Ojosipe
The African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL), on Monday, June 17, 2019, held a training workshop for journalists on Whistleblowing and the Fight Against Corruption in Nigeria. Declaring the workshop open, Chido Onumah, Co-ordinator of AFRICMIL, said apart from the need for continuous collaboration with the media in driving the whistleblowing awareness campaign, the need to highlight the protection of whistleblowers has become imperative to the success of the policy. He noted that whistleblowers have continued to suffer harassment for exposing corruption because there is no law that ensures their safety. According to him, adequate reportage of such issues could bring about change.
In his presentation, Johnson Oludare of the Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit (PICA) noted that the media had a duty to report fraudulent practices by corrupt individuals. According to him,“…the press in Nigeria is free, consequently all known corrupt practices are to be brought to public knowledge through adequate reporting by media practitioners.” He noted that “…lower-level whistleblowing in Nigeria public institutions suggests that many employees are hesitant to blow the whistle on misconduct because they believe their superior are too powerful, they fear social exclusion and feel their effort will not contribute to any meaningful change.”
According to Oludare, the loss of career and potential loss of an economic future is a very high price for a potential whistleblower to pay for public interest, hence the place of the media in helping to focus on the travails of whistleblowers. He said, “A dilemma occurs when a public servant is asked to carry out orders that require the law to be broken. If the public servant follows the orders, they are liable for a criminal offence and if the employee does not follow the order the individual will be subject to internal discipline. Once the view of the officials is known in government, the public servant is expected to either fall in line or resign.”
Presenting a paper on Investigative and Advocacy Reporting, the Executive Director, International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR), Dayo Aiyetan, urged journalists to make advocacy reporting a crucial part of investigative reporting as it was the way to hold the government. Aiyetan noted that collaboration between journalists and whistleblowers could strengthen the use of the whistleblowing policy and the fight against corruption. In his presentation on Story Ideas and Sourcing for Corruption Stories, Abdulaziz Abdulaziz, programme manager AFRICMIL, reminded journalists of the need to always fact check their stories before going ahead to publish. He said journalism is a profession that works for the good of society and should not be used as an avenue for vendetta.
According to Abdulaziz, “Journalism is a service to the country and its citizens, not an opportunity to amass wealth.” He noted that journalism is a duty that requires courage and conviction. Aaron Kaase, a whistle-blower at the Police Service Commission (PSC) who was suspended from work and his salary withheld for three years, shared his experience as a whistle-blower and the challenges facing whistle-blowers. He noted that unless whistle-blowers are guaranteed of protection, not many people would be interested in raising concern about corruption in the public service.
Dyepkazah Shibayan, a journalist with The Cable News Online said the training had made him see the operations of the whistleblowing policy in another perspective. “I now know what the issues are. Before now, I was only aware of how whistle-blowers are not paid after blowing the whistle. But today, I found that there is a need to work with whistle-blowers and champion their cause,” he said.
A reporter with Premium Times, Evelyn Okakwu, noted that it is best to see the rights of whistle-blowers as human rights that need to be protected. The media workshop was part of AFRICMIL good governance and accountability project tagged Corruption Anonymous (CORA) which is supported by the MacArthur Foundation.
