Perhaps the most critical outcome of a recent sensitisation workshop in Abuja on “The implementation of the Whistleblowing Policy in Nigeria: Issues, Challenges and Way Forward” is that the policy was enthusiastically received and enjoyed impressive success at the outset but later lost momentum and is in need of urgent revitalisation.

The whistleblower policy was introduced by the immediate past administration of President Muhammadu Buhari to encourage members of the public aware of acts of corrupt enrichment by pubic office holders to alert the appropriate anti-corruption and security agencies, to ensure recovery of such looted funds. Those who expose such criminal acts would not only be compensated with attractive financial rewards but were also promised that their information and identities would be treated with the strictest privacy to protect their safety.

Speaking at the workshop, the Director, Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit (PICA), Ministry of Finance, Yusuf Sule, disclosed that, following the introduction of the policy, the sums of over N83 billion, $609 million and 5.4 million Euros in liquid assets were recovered between 2017 and 2023. To guarantee the security of such recovered funds and diminish the possibility of their being re-looted, the monies were lodged in the FGN Assets Recovery Account maintained by the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation under the control of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Citing instances of some of the earlier spectacular successes of the policy, Sule said, “Following a useful tip by a whistleblower in 2017, EFCC raided and successfully recovered the sums of $43.5 million, 27,800 pounds and N23.2 million in Flat 7B, No 16, Osborne Towers in Lagos”. Continuing, he said “As proof of whistleblowing success story, which is attributable to the cooperation from patriotic members of the society who volunteered useful information, the earlier celebrated case of whistleblowing in Nigeria led to the recovery of the sums of N70,925,225, 642.95, $9,777,439.99 and £21,500.00”.

These successes indicate how far the whistleblowing policy can go in helping to curb phenomenal public corruption which is a key contributory factor to the country’s continued pervasive poverty and underdevelopment despite her rich natural and resource endowments.

Yet, in recent times, public support for the policy has reportedly waned, with public alerts on acts of corruption declining drastically despite evidence of astronomical increase of criminal private diversion of public resources by unscrupulous officials. One reason for this could be the public outcry at some point by some whistleblowers that their promised reward was not forthcoming even after they had fulfilled their own obligations of the bargain. Faithfully meeting up with pledged payments to credible whistleblowers who provide information leading to the recovery of stolen funds is imperative to make the policy a success.

The argument has been made that patriotic citizens do not need promise of financial reward to report corrupt behaviour to the authorities. That view is unrealistic and idealistic. Compensating whistleblowers for disclosures that benefit society is an international best practice, with huge positive potential for helping to curb the humongous scale of corruption we experience here. In any case, the amount paid to whistleblowers amounts to only a minuscule proportion of the stolen funds recovered and in no way detracts from the overall beneficial impact of the policy.

Another key aspect of the policy critical to ensuring its success is adherence to the principle of strictly safeguarding the confidentiality and anonymity of the whistleblower. There must be greater public confidence in the credibility, integrity and professionalism of the anti-graft and security agencies for such mutual trust to subsist. It is also important that potential whistleblowers see that the political authorities are not just paying lip service to the anti-corruption war but are serious about eradicating the evil or drastically minimising it.

The vibrancy and effectiveness of the whistleblowing policy has also undoubtedly been undermined by the failure of the ninth National Assembly to pass its enabling legislation into law. We support reports of the plan to re-present the bill to the current National Assembly and urge both the executive and legislature to make its enactment into law a priority. (The Nation Editorial)

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