The Executive Director of Media Rights Agenda, Mr Edetaen Ojo, has cautioned the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr George Akume, to stop making threats against whistleblowers. Ojo, who was responding to a recent threat made by Akume against whistleblowers, issued the caution at a one-day workshop for women’s groups and people with disabilities held on the 4th of July, 2024 in Ikeja, Lagos.
Akume had earlier been reported as saying there was no defence against the leakage of official documents by public officers, insisting such an act was a felony according to the Official Secrets Act. However, pointing to section 27 (1) of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2011, Ojo said Akume was mistaken as the disclosure of information in the interest of the public was protected by the FOIA.
Section 27 (1) of the FOIA, reads “Notwithstanding anything contained in the Criminal Code, Penal Code, the Official Secrets Act, or any other enactment, no civil or criminal proceedings shall lie against an officer of any public institution, or against any person acting on behalf of a public institution, and no proceedings shall lie against such persons thereof, for the disclosure in good faith of any information, or any part thereof pursuant to this Act, for any consequences that flow from that disclosure, or for the failure to give any notice required under this Act, if care is taken to give the required notice.”
Meanwhile, the workshop, organized by the African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL) in partnership with the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ), focused on the role of women and people with disabilities in the promotion of whistleblowing and whistleblower protection in Nigeria.
Coordinator of AFRICMIL, Dr. Chido Onumah, in his opening remarks observed that “Women and people with disabilities are known to be the greatest victims of corrupt practices in the country.” He went on to say “This is the time to reverse the trend, to encourage them to break the culture of silence by speaking out and reporting all illegalities to competent authorities.”
Dr. Onumah explained that the workshop would broaden participants’ knowledge of whistleblowing, adding his expectation that at the end of the workshop, participants “will all be the richer for it, with a stronger resolve to report wrongdoing and demand protection of our compatriots who become victims of impunity and abuse of power only because they made disclosures against corrupt and other illegal practices that threaten society’s wellbeing.”
In a goodwill message, Samson Ademola, Programme Officer at the WSCIJ, spoke on the need for civil society organizations to continue collaborating in order to enthrone a whistleblowing culture for the betterment of all citizens. He also praised the work of investigative journalists committed to exposing corruption and other ills in the society, stating that the WSCIJ had been awarding a prize for investigative journalism consistently for 19 years.
Two resource persons made presentations at the workshop while there was also a general discussion session. In her presentation titled ‘Why women and PWDs must join the fight against corruption through whistleblowing,’ the first resource person, Madam Juliana Francis, Deputy Editor of the Eagleonline Newspaper, stressed that women cannot afford to be neutral, they must get involved and become whistleblowers in their own interest and the interest of the public.
Besides calling out the SGF for his threats against whistleblowers, the second resource person, Mr Edetaen Ojo, Executive Director of Media Rights Agenda, in his paper titled ‘The role of media in promoting whistleblowing and whistleblower protection among women and PWDs in Nigeria’ also advocated for special consideration to be shown to women particularly in the field of journalism, as the challenges women face as reporters are different from what their male counterparts may experience.
Ojo further pointed out that Chapter 2 Section 22 of the 1999 Constitution explicitly gave the media the responsibility of holding the Government to account, a task for which journalists often require the cooperation of whistleblowers to carry out. He also stressed that protecting sources of information such as whistleblowers, is a cardinal principle of journalism. While thanking AFRICMIL for organizing the workshop, he called on the NGO to also educate Nigerians on how to identify fake news.
AFRICMIL is a non-governmental organization dedicated to media, information, research, advocacy, and training. The one-day workshop for women’s groups and people with disabilities in Lagos was held with the support of MacArthur Foundation.
