The African Centre for Media and Information Literacy on Thursday urged the Federal Government to guard the integrity of the whistle-blowing policy by protecting the blowers.
Coordinator of the centre, Chido Onumah, made the call at the presentation of the first year report of Corruption Anonymous project by AFRICMIL in Abuja.
Onumah said that the government in 2016 announced a whistle-blower policy which offered financial incentive for citizens who blew the whistle that led to recovery of looted public funds.
He said that specifically, Corruption Anonymous sought to create awareness about the policy, build public confidence and support for the policy.
Onumah said that this became imperative because most times, people who blew whistle on institutions were victimised by their employers.
He said: “It also seeks to advocate for protection of whistle-blowers as well as promote the institutionalisation of the policy.
“Although, the policy is not particularly new in Nigeria, from recent events we can all agree that with its formalisation, the concept has great potential if certain basic requirements are met.
“These requirements must be actualised for the policy to be acceptable, credible and effective.
“More than anything else, it is important to safeguard the integrity of the process and to protect whistle-blowers.”
According to him, essentially, whistle-blowing as an instrument for tackling corruption would only survive where the safety of the whistle-blower is guaranteed.
Onumah expressed hope that the report would afford Nigerians the opportunity to reflect on the strength, challenges and opportunities the policy offered in the effort to tame corruption.
In a remark, Dr Musa Abubakar, Chairman, Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, said that the fight against corruption should not be left for institutions alone.
Abubakar, who was represented by Olayinka Aiyegbayo, an Assistant Commissioner, said that the anti-corruption fight would only succeed if the government partnered citizens.
He assured that the commission would continue to seek ways to curb corruption in the country.
On his part, Acting Chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Magu, said the CORA report would add value to existing anti-corruption policy.
Magu, who was represented by the spokesperson of the commission, Wilson Uwujaren, said that the protection of whistle-blowers remained a major challenge EFCC was contending with.
According to him, looking back at what has happened since the policy came into existence; Nigerians will agree that the euphoria that started with the establishment of the commission has subsided.
He said that the commission would work to keep up the tempo by continuously sensitising the public to the need to key into the policy while also looking for ways to protect blowers.
He said: “I don’t want to believe that people are no long stashing stolen wealth in their houses and other places; it is just that people are no longer enthusiastic in coming up with information.”
He stated that the muteness of Nigerians on stolen wealth was a challenge for EFCC.
He added: “So, I urge Nigerians to continue to help the policy to survive by coming up with information.”