…As AFRICMIL, PRIMORG wrap up radio programme
By Doyin Ojosipe
The National Assembly has been advised to speed up action on the passage of the whistleblower law as the sustainability of whistleblowing as a tool for ensuring accountability and good governance depends on the availability of a legal framework.
The call follows the persistent intimidation of whistleblowers, dwindling participation of Nigerians in the policy and the inability of the 8th National Assembly to pass the bill before its tenure elapsed.
Speaking during a radio town hall meeting on Kiss FM 99.9 Abuja, Wednesday, former member and chairman, House Committee on Financial Crimes in the House of Representatives of the 8th Assembly, Hon. Kayode Oladele, explained that the bill could not sail through due to the existence of other versions of the bill which were not properly done and could not be harmonised within the said time.
According to him, “The 9th assembly is fast running out and passing the bill can be very slow, particularly when the powers that be or authorities are not really interested in the bill. The general public through the CSOs should work effectively and take ownership of the bill by working with the relevant stakeholder at the National Assembly, i.e. the House Committee on Financial Crimes and the Senate Committee on Anti-Corruption to ensure the needful is done.”
Similarly, AFRICMIL’s Senior Program Officer, Godwin Onyeacholem, expressed displeasure over the lackadaisical attitude of the federal government in passing the whistleblowing law almost five years after it announced the policy as a strategy for fighting corruption.
“Immediately that policy was made and you are really interested in fighting corruption, within one year, you ought to have packaged a whistleblower law that will ensure adequate protection for those who demonstrate the rare courage of exposing corruption but it’s not there.
“You can see that the will to fight corruption is lacking even though it is often touted as a priority,” he said.
Onyeacholem emphasized the need to scale up actions for the passage of the bill before the end of the tenure of the current legislators which he noted was by the corner.
In her contribution, Senator Abiodun Olujimi, who currently represents Ekiti South Senatorial District, said bringing all relevant stakeholders for the purpose of harmonising the bill in such a way that all interests are captured would be helpful in hastening the passage of the bill, adding that it was important to carry the executive along for meaningful progress.
On her part, Toyin Aladegbami, a lawyer and development expert, was of the opinion that the introduction of whistleblowing in the aspect of insecurity may get the attention of the legislators as the issue of insecurity was of utmost importance to all.
“Perhaps, there is a way we can make the proposed bill broad to accommodate issues where we feel there are lapses in security, not forgetting that the proposed bill is being implemented by the Ministry of Finance and that naturally makes the ordinary citizen think it is all about money,” she said.
The radio townhall meeting on the future of whistleblowing in Nigeria was the last of the 8-week series launched in June by African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL), in collaboration with the Progressive Impact Organisation for Community Development (PRIMORG).
The goal of the collaboration was to leverage the power of radio and social media in addressing issues of accountability and good governance in Nigeria through whistleblowing. It was also aimed at getting citizens to actively participate in whistleblowing as a way of supporting government’s anti-corruption efforts.
The radio town hall is part of the activities of the Corruption Anonymous (CORA) project of the AFRICMIL, a good governance and accountability project sponsored by The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
AFRICMIL hopes to continue to explore more areas of collaboration with PRIMORG to deepen transparency and accountability across all sectors of the polity.
