Mark Daggash: THE WHISTLEBLOWER IN NIGERIA!

Mark Daggash: THE WHISTLEBLOWER IN NIGERIA!: For the Nigerian youth watching his brother’s back, the Whistleblower Policy is snitching at its highest level; for the old and optim...

THE WHISTLEBLOWER IN NIGERIA!

For the Nigerian youth watching his brother’s back, the Whistleblower Policy is snitching at its highest level; for the old and optimists, it is a policy largely overdue; Wikipedia online describes a whistleblower (also known as a whistle-blower or whistle blower) as a person who exposes any kind of information or activity that is deemed illegal, unethical, or not correct within an organization that is either private or public. ... Because of this, a number of laws exist to protect whistleblowers. In Nigeria, the federal government defines a whistleblower as a person who voluntarily discloses to the Federal Government of Nigeria, through the Federal Ministry of Finance, a possible misconduct or violation that has occurred, is ongoing, or is about to occur with specific concerns which are in the public interest.  

The Whistleblower Protection Bill has twice failed to receive the necessary support in the 6^th and 7^th Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It is alleged that Senators of the two sessions blocked the passage of the bill based on the rationale that it could be used as a tool for witch-hunt. They argued further that the country was not ripe for such a law.

A former legislator, Ganiyu Solomon had sponsored the Whistleblowers Protection Bill first as a Member of the House of Representatives, and consequently as a Senator in 2008. Hon. Halims Agoda also sponsored a similar bill, Safeguarded Disclosure (Whistle Blowers, Special Provisions, Etc.) Bill, 2009. 

Interestingly, the Senate Bill sponsored by Sen. Ganiyu Solomon was among the 46 Bills passed by the past Senate in record time but was refused assent by former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015. With the coming of the President Buhari in the same year, it was thought that the bill, given its anti-corruption tendencies shall be considered expressly for executive assent. However, the proposed law did not get the necessary approval.

Recently, in the 8^th Senate, its members voted overwhelmingly in favor of two related bills in this regard, to allow their consolidation scale the crucial second reading. The two bills consolidated include, “A Bill for an Act to Protect Persons Making Disclosures for Public Interest and Others From Reappraisal” sponsored by Senator Abiodun Olujimi (Ekiti South) and “A Bill for an Act to Provide for the Establishment and Operation of a Programme to Enable Certain Persons to Receive Protection in Relation to Certain Inquiries, Investigations or Prosecutions and for Matters Connected Therewith, 2016” proposed by Senator Isiaka Adeleke (Osun West). 

The Bills generally seek to provide amongst others, the manner in which individuals may, in the public interest, disclose information that relates to unlawful or other illegal conduct or corrupt practices of others; to provide for the protection against victimization of persons who make these disclosures. The proposed law(s) defines the nature of an impropriety that qualifies for disclosure, the procedure for disclosure and the protection that would be given a whistleblower by government agencies.

On the 21^st of December 2016, the Federal Ministry of Finance launched the whistleblower programme to encourage anyone with information about a violation of financial regulations, mismanagement of public funds and assets, financial malpractice, fraud and theft to report it.  

                                       

According to the Mrs. Kemi Adeseun, anyone who has authentic information about violation, misconduct, or improper activity which can impact negatively on the Nigerian people and government should report it through one or the other of three channels: SMS -   09098067946 Email - whistle@finance.gov.ng  web - http://whistle.finance.gov.ng. Phone Calls can also go through on Monday - Friday (10:00am to 3:00pm) except on public holidays

The reward for blowing a whistle ensures that the whistle-blower will get between 2.5 per cent (minimum) and five per cent (maximum) of the recovered loot, provided that “there is a voluntary return of stolen or concealed public funds or assets on the account of the information provided”. 

According to the Minister of Information, Mr. Lai Mohammed, the whistle-blower policy had started yielding fruits, with the recovery of US$151 million and N8billion. In his words, “the looted funds, which do not include the $9.2 million in cash allegedly owned by a former Group Managing Director of the NNPC (which was also a dividend of the whistle-blower policy), were recovered from just three sources through whistle-blowers who gave actionable information to the office of the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation. The biggest amount of $136,676,600.51 was recovered from an account in a commercial bank, where the money was kept under an apparently fake account name, followed by N7billion and $15million from another person and N1billion from yet another.”

For you to be guaranteed as a whistleblower, initiators of this policy have put a caveat which says, before you blow that whistle and expect protection or compensation, it will be advisable to wait until the government has completed the process of enacting a whistle-blower policy that is backed by law. In other words, you must wait for the National Assembly, ever so conscious of its own self-protection, to enact a bill to that effect.