By: AMAWU, Cletus Albert Amawu.
African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL) with the support of the MacArthur Foundation, brought together Civil Society Organisations (CSO), Media practitioners and other Stakeholders on whistleblowing and whistleblower protection Town Hall Meeting with the theme: “Strengthening the Whistleblowing Policy Implementation through Whistleblower Protection.” in conjunction with Cross River Watch and Policy Alert at the Marian Hotel, Calabar.
In his welcome address, Dr. Chido Onumah, Coordinator of AFRICMIL reiterate the importance of the Calabar Town Hall Meeting for Stakeholders on whistleblowing and whistleblower protection, “as a key component in the enhancement of democracy and good governance, as well as the promotion of accountability and orderly society.”
According to him, “AFRICMIL has in the last six years been implementing the Corruption Anonymous (CORA) project designed to build public confidence in and support for the whistleblowing policy which the immediate past administration introduced in December 2016, as one of the strategies for fighting endemic corruption in Nigeria.”
The objectives of the project include but not limited to; “creating awareness on the importance of whistleblowing as a democratic accountability mechanism, collaborating with the Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit (PICA) the unit in the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning which manages the policy; and then ensuring effective protection for citizens who face adverse actions for daring to blow the whistle on corruption and other wrongdoing in the interest of the public.”
“In the course of our sensitisation of the citizens, AFRICMIL have been to the six geopolitical zones of the country, to drive home this novel intervention in achieving good governance, to demand accountability and challenge wrongdoing that are likely to endanger the wellbeing of society, and one thing we let citizens know during our public education activity is that their right to report wrongdoing is a natural extension of freedom of expression, which is linked to the principles of transparency and integrity. To that extent, AFRICMIL is encouraging our compatriots to make disclosures on fraud, corruption, theft, mismanagement of public resources and wrongdoing that negatively impact society and we assure them of protection when they face retaliation for doing so. “We are fully aware of the reality that among other incentives for whistleblowing, the most crucial is protection. There’s no way people will be motivated to engage in whistleblowing if they know they will not be protected from victimization for reporting wrongdoing. Not even the promise of reward for reports that lead to recovery of stolen public funds is as strong a motivation to blow the whistle as protection against retaliation,” he said.
Dr. Chido, regretted the inability of the whistleblowing and whistleblower protection draft bill to have been signed into law, even when it had been approved by the Federal Executive Council last December; he however assured that AFRICMIL, will work with civil society partners and other stakeholders in the public sector to facilitate its passage into law and soonest.
Speakers at the Town Hall Meeting include, the Acting Chairman of Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) who was represented by the Commander of the Uyo Zonal Office, Bawa Hamidu Saidu. Kalu J. Ugbo Esq. the Acting Resident Commissioner of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC). Mr. Otu Ibor, the State Director of National Orientation Agency (NOA). Comrade Jeremiah Archibong, CrossRiverWatch Managing Editor. Mr. Tijah Bolton-Akpan, Executive Director of Policy Alert. Mr. Godwin Oyeacholem and Jonathan Ugbal, anchored the Meeting.
They all spoke in unison that whistleblowing and whistleblower are fundamental human rights enthroned in our constitution as freedom of expression; civic responsibility to hold government accountable for good governance and society, citizens’ responsibility to expose corruption and wrongdoing in society, encourage citizens to support the EFCC and ICPC and other Agencies saddled with the responsibilities to fight corruption and other related vices, but warned that caution should not be thrown to the wind, hence, consequences abound for fake information. Citizens should take advantage of the rewards for whistleblowers that ranges from 2.5%-5% of the recovered looted funds.
They concluded that for effectiveness of the whistleblowing policy, citizens confidence can only be encouraged with the guarantee of the passage into law of the whistleblowing and whistleblower protection bill, “which is imperative that we have a comprehensive and robust whistle-blowing legal instrument and congruent framework to ensure order, expectation and very adequate protection for whistle-blowers; as this will impact on the willingness of the citizens to fulfil their obligations in reporting incidence of corruption, fraud, abuse of office and related misconducts in public and private workplaces.”
