Abdullahi M. Gulloma
The federal government has, this week, in its newly found zeal and determination to confront the menace of corruption, headlong, adopted a new and largely effective strategy to aid its effort.
Referred to as whistle blowing, the Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, who spoke on behalf of the government after the weekly Federal Executive Council meeting, Wednesday, said that the new strategy will significantly up the ante in the fight against corruption.
Interestingly, she said that whistle blowers whose effort led to recovery of stolen government money would earn five percent of the recovered loot.
The minister said the new whistle blowing policy is aimed at strengthening the current fight against financial crimes and corruption by the present administration.
She said the purpose of the initiative is to increase exposure of financial or financial-related crimes, improve level of public confidence in public entities, enhance transparency and accountability in the management of public fund and improve the country’s Open Government Ranking and Ease of Doing Business Indicators.
The minister said whistle blowers are expected to report mismanagement or misappropriation of public fund and assets, financial malpractice or fraud, collecting or soliciting bribes, diversion of revenues, fraudulent and unapproved payments, splitting of contracts and procurement fraud (kickbacks and over-invoicing etc.).
Though she said this initiative would be only a stop-gap measure until the bill to holistically address corruption in government circles is passed by the National Assembly, one, the government should be commended for introducing this initiative in the fight against corruption and, two, the initiative should rather be maintained and strengthened.
After all, it is clear to the least concerned person now that discouragement, not encouragement, will always come out of the supposedly hallowed chambers of the National Assembly, as far as effort to wrestle corruption to the ground is concerned.
However, the role of legislation in the fight against curruption cannot be undermined because the risk of corruption is significantly heightened in environments where the reporting of wrongdoing is not supported or protected by law. The law, in fact, improves co-ordination among relevant players in the fight against corruption and monitors progress of the war.
Yet in absence of a law on whistle blowing, people must be encouraged to report alleged cases of corruption and the truth should be appreciated that public and private sector employees have access to up-to-date information concerning their workplaces’ practices and are, usually, the first to recognise wrongdoings.
However, those who report wrongdoings may be subjected to retaliation, such as intimidation, harassment, dismissal or violence by their colleagues or superiors while whistle blowing is even associated with treachery or spying.
Thus, while whistleblower protection is essential to encourage the reporting of misconduct, fraud and corruption, providing effective protection for whistleblowers serves to entrench an organisational culture where employees are not only aware of how to report but also have confidence in the reporting procedures.
It also helps businesses prevent and detect bribery in commercial transactions. The protection of both public and private sector whistleblowers from retaliation for reporting in good faith suspected acts of corruption and other wrongdoing is therefore integral to efforts to combat corruption, safeguard integrity, enhance accountability, and support a clean business environment.
Though, the reason for the delay in passing the whistle blower bill by the National Assembly can easily be discerned, it must be pointed out to the lawmakers, especially, that Nigeria will only be aligning itself to a global effort by having such a bill in place because the whistleblower protection requirements have been introduced in the United Nations Convention against Corruption and the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption.
If adequately implemented, legislation protecting whistleblowers can become one of the most effective tools to be possessed by the Buhari-led administration in its anti-corruption war mainly because it will detect and combat corrupt acts, fraud and mismanagement of public resources, ills that the government is determined to eradicate.
However, even with the whistle blower law in place, the issue of protection for volunteers of information must not be toyed with. In fact, protection for volunteers is seen as what could give the law visibility, thereby making its promotion easier for governments and employers.
Thankfully, words of encouragement for Nigerians, in this direction, came from the minister who said: “If you whistle-blow in public-spirit and in good faith, you will be protected. If you feel that you have been treated badly because of your report, you can file a formal complaint. If you have suffered harassment, intimidation or victimisation for sharing your concerns, restitution will be made for any loss suffered.”
With this latest initiative in the fight against corruption, no doubt, the Buhari-led administration has not only declared its zero-tolerance for corruption but it also recruits the people, everyone, to serve as vanguard in the anti-corruption crusade.
My conclusion, therefore, is that this initiative is, without any doubt, the boldest in the history of Nigeria’s anti-corruption war and we must all be part of it to decisively defeat the monster.
