After more than 6 years of introducing the whistle-blower policy, the Federal Government on Wednesday approved a new whistleblower draft bill that will strengthen the anti-corruption drive in Nigeria.
Established in 2016, the whistleblower policy stipulated that any Nigerian who provides credible information that leads to the recovery of stolen funds would earn between 2.5 percent to 5 percent of the fund.
At the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting on Wednesday, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, stated that a draft bill would be introduced to revitalise the policy.
She said, “The Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning presented several memos today. The first is the draft whistleblower bill for 2022. This memo has been reviewed by the Council and approved with a provision to ensure alignment with the Evidence Act”.
While noting that the whistleblower policy is losing momentum, the minister added that the new draft will also protect whistleblowers in order to have more people coming forward to give credible information.
“We noticed that the whistleblower policy response had lost momentum. We embarked on engagements in the six geo-political zones, and one of the main outcomes we found is that people are concerned about their safety due to providing information. So, this bill is critical to ensure the effectiveness of the retention of the whistle policy,” she said.
Investors King understands that the whistleblower policy had a huge momentum when it was introduced leading to the recovery of billions of dollars stashed in the homes and offices of government officials both past and present.
With the hope to be rewarded, a number of Nigerians, especially cooperate and domestic workers of important government officials, voluntarily expose acts of fraud, bribery, looted government funds and assets, financial misconduct and other forms of corruption.
The policy has however lost its nitro due to a number of factors which include the inadequate protection of whistleblowers and the government’s failure to honour agreements with whistleblowers.