In a bid to deepen conversations around the whistleblowing policy and the fight against corruption in Nigeria, the African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL), on Thursday launched a publication entitled ‘Engaging Whistleblowing in Nigeria, One Year of the Corruption Anonymous (CORA) Project.’ The publication is a report of the activities of CORA in the past one year.
In his welcome address, Coordinator of the Centre, Chido Onumah, said the report was meant to help the public reflect on the challenges, strengths and opportunities the whistleblowing policy had to offer.
Expressing concern over undue reprisals visited on whistleblowers who had taken it as a duty to expose corrupt practices, Onumah stressed the need for whistleblower protection as that’s the only way the the anti-corruption policy could survive.
He said, “AFRICMIL has been engaging the whistleblower process in the last one year and has intervened on behalf of whistleblowers who were victimized by their employers.”
Ex–Chair, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Nuhu Ribadu, who chaired the occasion, said the government and people must find a common ground to root out corruption.
He said the government must show a measure of integrity to be able to buy the trust of the people, otherwise the policy becomes unsellable.
“The importance of the government/people synergy in the fight against corruption is best measured by the trust people have in the integrity of the system. The manifestation of that trust, in turn, is when people go beyond expressing verbal support for the work to volunteering tips and information,” he said.
Ribadu commended the government for initiating the whistle blower policy. He praised AFRICMIL and the MacArthur Foundation for taking the initiative to mobilize support for the policy and the fight against corruption in Nigeria.
Speaking at the event, the Ag. Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Dr Musa Abubakar, who was represented by Olayinka Aiyegbayo, urged Nigerian youths to shed the stereotype about the country and start believing in a corruption-free society.
He noted that, “while incentives are not the major preoccupation of the policy, we realise the need to encourage and reward members of the society to come forward with information which could plug leakages wherever they are found. We are beginning to see positive results as recoveries have already been made and these would be ploughed back into the economy.”
He said the CORA report was timely, as it will serve as a morale booster and knowledge base for the anti-corruption agencies.
The Deputy Director, MacArthur Foundation, Dayo Olaide, said although the organisation had shown interest in helping to bring about good governance and accountability in the country, Nigerians would have to be enraged sufficiently to be able to confront corruption.
He noted that there was a need for deliberate and concerted effort in fighting corruption as where corruption is allowed to fight back, it sends wrong signals to the entire populace.
Olaide urged government and other authorities concerned to strengthen the protection laws for whistle blowers. “Government must show commitment and go all the way to encourage citizens to act. We need to all stand up, speak out and prevail on those making laws to establish the laws protecting the whistle-blower,” he added.
On his part, Secretary, Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit (PICA), represented by Mohammed Isa, noted that there was a need to commend the federal government for efforts made so far on the anti-graft war as many loose ends had been blocked while billions of naira had been recovered as well.
