By Doyin Ojosipe
The Federal Ministry of Industry Trade and Investment (FMITI), Thursday said it was reviewing a draft of a whistleblowing policy it has developed through its Anti-Corruption Transparency Unit (ACTU).
The Ministry revealed this when the African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL), paid a courtesy call on its Anticorruption Unit. Akeredolu Toyin, Assistant Director of the Unit said the draft of the whistleblowing policy was a result of the whistleblowing sensitization training organised by AFRICMIL in collaboration with the Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit (PICA) early last year (2021) for the staff of the ministry.
The whistleblowing sensitization program which focused on institutionalizing the policy in Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) was part of AFRICMIL’s advocacy for whistleblowing as a tool for combating corruption.
Akeredolu however expressed worry over the distrust and a seeming lack of acceptance of the policy by staff of the ministry as revealed in an opinion poll which he said was carried out by his unit. He said majority of the staff were in what he termed ‘disarray’ as they emphasized the lack of commitment by the Federal Government to make the policy work.
Samaila Ibrahim, Chairman of the Anti-Corruption unit also mentioned that the Unit was facing some difficulties to operate appropriately as far as whistleblowing was concerned because staff of the organisation have preconceived belief about being policed and were therefore not willing to cooperate,
He added that neither was the management of the ministry showing interest in entrenching the whistleblowing policy as no efforts inform of financials or capacity building workshop was at any time considered for the Unit.
Responding, AFRICMIL’s Senior Program Officer, Godwin Onyeacholem said it may be helpful to encourage the staff based on the importance of their wellbeing and in the interest of the society.
He also pointed out that the staff could be encouraged to report wrongdoing anonymously using AFRICMIL/PUAC whistleblowing reporting portal if they were uncomfortable with the mechanism provided by the Ministry.
Onyeacholem reiterated the fact that the reward for whistleblowing as promised by the Federal Government was still very much in place.
In the same vein, Kola Ogunbiyi, AFRICMIL Program Manager, requesting a draft of the policy said it was necessary to enable AFRICMIL make an input and provide technical support in drafting a better whistleblowing policy.
Senior Program Officer, Monitoring and Evaluation, Nkechi Ugwu said she was taken aback by the lack of interest of the whistleblowing policy as demonstrated by the staff of the Ministry.
