FG: Whistleblower policy has lost momentum

The Whistleblower Policy, which encourages Nigerians to disclose information on fraud, looted government funds, and financial misconduct has lost momentum, according to Hajiya Zainab Ahmad, Minister of Finance.

Under the policy launched in 2016, whistleblowers earn from 2.5% to 5% from the funds recovered by the government.

Speaking after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting on Wednesday, the minister said a draft bill was introduced to save the policy.

“The ministry of finance, budget and national planning presented a number of memos today. The first is the draft whistleblower bill for 2022. This memo has been reviewed by council and approved with a provision to ensure alignment with the Evidence Act.

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“The purpose of operationalising and putting in place a whistleblower bill is to strengthen the fight against corruption and to also enable protection for whistleblowers that provide information for use by government.

“As you know since 2016, the council had approved the setting up of the presidential initiative of continuous audit (PICA). PICA has been working in partnership with EFCC, ICPC, DSS, NFIU as well as the office of the attorney-general of the federation.

“We noticed that the whistleblower policy response has lost momentum. We embarked on engagements in the six geo-political zones and one of the main outcome that we found is that people are concerned about their safety as a result of providing information. So this bill is critical to ensure the effectiveness of the retention of the whistle policy.”

(Daily Trust)