Continued delay of the enactment of a whistleblower protection legislation is hindering progress in the federal government’s anti-corruption crusade, according to stakeholders at a whistleblowing policy roundtable themed “Towards A Whistleblower Protection Law In Nigeria,” which held November 7, 2023, at Shehu Musa Yar’adua Centre, Abuja.
Maxwell Kadiri, Senior Legal Officer at Open Society for Justice Initiative (OSJI) who was the lead speaker, reiterated the fact that Nigeria had treaty obligations that made it mandatory to enact a whistleblower protection law.
“We have the UNCAC that Nigeria is a signatory to, there is also the African Union work under the African Union Board on Corruption which has declared 2024 as the year of Whistleblower Protection and also prioritized developing a model law on whistleblowing.”
He stated that the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights was already working towards developing a set of guidelines and principles on whistleblowing in Africa.
“The period of advocacy for a whistleblowing law in Nigeria dates to as far back as 23 years ago. For any nation that wants to take its pride of place in the comity of nations, now is the time to enact a law to protect whistleblowers,” he said.
Dr Chido Onumah, Coordinator of African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL), said the role of whistleblowers is being recognised in various corruption treaties, including in Article 33 of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC).
He said it was unfortunate that efforts of whistleblowers who play a positive legitimate and crucial role in the fight against corruption were not being recognised. “Instead of being rewarded, they are being hindered by those whose interests are threatened.
They are faced with reprisals such as dismissal, physical violence, abusive legal proceedings, forced exile, and in worst cases, assassinated,” Onumah said.
In his goodwill message, Dr Kole Shettima, African Director, MacArthur Foundation said despite the issues bedevilling whistleblowers in Nigeria, whistleblowing should be an anti-corruption and accountability tool that every one should be interested in.
Similarly, Anna Meyers, Executive Director at the Whistleblowing International Network (WIN), said it was important for government to have the political will to push the issue of whistleblowing protection law for enactment as this would bring about good response from the public especially, creating the confidence that the rights of the people are being taken seriously.
Hajia Saudatu Mahdi, Secretary General of Women’s Rights Advancement and Protection Alternative (WRAPA), said more work needed to be done in the fight against corruption. She encouraged the federal government and Nigerians to see whistleblowing as “a form of protection of the country’s sovereign wealth from fraud and misuse, the protection of human dignity and the protection of human rights as enshrined in the constitution of the country.”
Earlier, the Independent Corrupt Practices & Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), represented by Nneka Okere, said the commission had put in place mechanisms to enable whistleblowers submit tips and ensure the usage of the information submitted.
She said the commission was mandated in section 27 of its Act to receive tips from the public on financial misconduct.
Okere said the ICPC had also established Anti-Corruption and Transparency Units across MDAs to help in the fight against corruption.
The representatives of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) and the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Kingsley Ochiagu and Maryam Yakubu respectively affirmed their organisations’ commitment and further collaborations on the advocacy for successful implementation of whistleblowing as an anti-corruption mechanism in Nigeria.
Good will messages were also delivered by Jimmy Kande of the Platform to Protect Whistleblowers in Africa (PPLAAF) and other stakeholders.
The event featured a three-member panel of discussants comprising Adesoji Afolabi who represented the Director of Legal Drafting, Federal Ministry of Justice; Godwin Chigbu, principal Counsel at Godwin Chigbu & Associates, and Johnson Oludare, head of Whistleblowing Unit, Federal Ministry of Finance.
After the panel session, participants took turns to urge the federal government to enact a whistleblower protection law with substance—a law that is all encompassing and of international standards.
They called for a review of the draft whistleblower protection bill before its passage, noting that while wrongdoing happens in different ways and cuts across both public and private sectors, the bill only made provisions for financial frauds in the public sector, and also ignored the fact that whistleblowing as an anti-corruption and accountability tool could be deployed in other sectors, especially the security sector.
Maxwell Kadiri recalled that one of Nigeria’s former National Security Adviser (NSA) once revealed intention to deploy whistleblowing to tackle the issues of illegal arms deal and circulation.
Marcus Fatunmole of the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR), said that the issue of ritual killing has not only spread to virtually all parts of the country but has become rampant and could be handled using the whistleblowing tool.
Hajia Saudatu Mahdi said the issues of gender-based violence including that of psychological afflictions were becoming prevalent and whistleblowing could be used to tackle them as most victims are usually weak and disadvantaged to take proper actions.
Speaking on the appropriateness of the bill with regards to international standards, participants expressed their worries over the absence of some vital provisions that penalises defaulters who breach the confidentiality code.
Godwin Chigbu expressed disappointment that despite the fact that the civil society presented its own version of a whistleblower protection bill to the government at the time government was drafting the bill, important provisions in the CSO bill that government was expected to incorporate in the final draft bill were completely ignored.
“The main issue of a whistleblower is not the right to blow the whistle but that of protection; what happens after blowing the whistle, the case of confidentiality, provision for sanction of somebody who discloses the identity of a whistleblower, who discloses the tip to the corrupt entity and who tries to sabotage attempts of investigation by exposing steps taken to help the corrupt entity tidy and cover his tracks.
The sanction for this category of person is not explicitly included in the bill, instead it made provision for the sanction against the whistleblower for ‘submitting false tips’.”
He also noted that the reward aspect was not explicitly stated and this may cause the whistleblower to lose out completely for exposing corruption.
Umar Yakubu of the Centre for Fiscal Transparency and Integrity Watch (CEFTIW) said the bill should place a clause of patriotism on all parties involved in the anti-corruption fight and not just on the shoulders of a whistleblower.
“People must be patriotic not to expose tips submitted or disclose identity of the whistleblower and should be punished accordingly when they default while the reward must also be provided for the whistleblower, that is the wholistic patriotism,” he said.
He said government needed to address issues raised by the Civil Society and not put itself across as intentionally not willing to protect whistleblowers.
Oke Epia of Order Paper noted the bill should be completely subjected to public scrutiny so that it would meet the expectations of citizens. He said, “It is not good to have a bill and or law that cannot still take care of the whistleblowers.”
Bisola Ajibola of the Centre for Journalism, Innovation and Development (CJID), also agreed that the bill should be revised before being reintroduced to the national assembly, given the rigorous process of amending a law that had already become an act of parliament.
She emphasized the inclusion in the bill provisions for the protection of journalists as they are always at risk because of the nature of their job.
Earlier, Afolabi had assured the CSOs that most of their observations were already reflected in the bill. He mentioned that some sections of the bill already provided for sanctions against breaching of confidential information and also explicitly provided for financial rewards for a whistleblowers whose tips lead to recoveries.
Oludare also assured that the process of getting the bill re-presented to the national assembly would be easy since it’s not a new bill that would require much advocacy.
The event was part of the activities of the anti-corruption initiative of AFRICMIL, tagged Corruption Anonymous, and was organized in collaboration with the Shehu Musa Yaradua Foundation and the Progressive Impact Organisation for Community Development (PRIMORG), Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Foundation and partners and supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
