Some stakeholders have called on the executive to prevail on the National Assembly to ensure speedy passage of the “Proceeds of Crime and Whistle blower Bills’’ pending before the National Assembly.
They made the calls in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Tuesday.
According to the stakeholders, the calls have become imperative as there is the need to ensure that legislation is put in place to protect whistle-blowers.
This, they said would also go a long way in ensuring that the Federal Government’s “Whistle blower’’ policy was effective.
The bills, seeking to protect persons making disclosure for public interest (Whistle blowers) to be protected from the knowledge or aggression of the accused was sponsored by Senator Biodun Olujimi from Ekiti South.
The bill was read the first time on the floor of Senate on 15th of March, 2016, while the second reading came six months after the first reading (October 20, 2016).
Niyi Akinsiju, the National Coordinator, United Action for Change, said that the bills when passed into law would protect individuals who make disclosures in public interest from reprisal attacks.
Akinsiju said the bills would also ensure that information provided by such whistle blowers were thoroughly investigated by law enforcement agencies.
He expressed concern that the National Assembly had not shown interest in the passage of the bill.
The national coordinator urged Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), groups, as well as other Nigerians to continue to make it a subject of advocacy at all levels.
According to him, political parties also have a stake in the bills, as they have critical roles to play in ensuring good governance.
“If all of us as a nation agree that corruption is a major setback for the development of the country, then any law that is proposed should have been fast-tracked at the National Assembly level.
“The provisions of the law will be enough incentive to make people come forward to reveal any criminal act, I make bold to say criminal act, because any form of corruption is a criminal act.
“So there is the need to protect and reward anybody staking his or her life to report such cases,’’ he said.
Akinsiju noted that it takes a lot of courage for any individual to disclose information in the interest of the public on funds mismanagement, money laundering, fraud, abuse of office and other related offences without adequate protection under the law.
“A bill for the protection of whistleblowers was sometime passed by the 7th Assembly in 2015, while another bill on the same issue has been pending before the present National Assembly since 2016.’’
He noted that for the short period that the whistle blower policy was introduced, so much had been achieved.
“The last figure given by the government indicates that more than 2,500 people have given tips.
“The truth of the matter is that the citizens are people in the offices, villages, supermarkets, motor parks and other areas who are passive participants in act of corruptions.
“Don’t forget that for any act of corruption, there is always more than one person who is involved.
“And no matter what, you will always have those who are sidelined, aggrieved, not interested or those who are aware but chose to be silent for a reason,’’ he said.
Akinsiju said that at the right time, when there were enough incentives for them to talk and feel protected, they would definitely come out and be motivated by the incentives.
He said that the policy would not only help the economy to grow, but also accelerate other developmental processes in the country.
Akinsiju said its organisation, which promotes good governance and citizen participation, had also proposed the whistleblower protection law at the state level.
A legal practitioner, Mike Ozekhome (SAN), expressed concern over the delay in the passage of the bills. He urged the assembly to as a matter of urgency passed the bills.
“It is so unfortunate that the National Assembly is foot dragging on the passage of the bills.
“This is an indication that the act for now is illegal, until it is legislated upon by the National Assembly, passed into law and accented to by Mr President,’’ he said.
Ozekhome noted that whistle blowing was a very good idea but, however, warned that the policy must be implemented with caution to ensure that the blowers were not made the victims of the policy.
He said this was because there were no legal mechanisms to protect whistleblowers from retaliation by the accused persons.
“For example, if somebody is awarded N50 million for whistle blowing and the people in the system leak the information to the accused person, then the blower is in danger.
“Even if it is 20 years later if the person is still alive, the day he realised that you were the one that blew the whistle that led to his problem, he will go after you for revenge.
“It is therefore a very dangerous double edge sward that must be handled carefully.’’
Ayuba Wabba, President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) said the speedy passage of the bill would definitely provide a legal backing to the whistle-blowing policy of Federal Government.
The labour leader said the union was the first to canvass for protection of the whistle blower.
“We had our rally in 2015, part of the demand we submitted to government was the protection of whistle blowers, because we found out that in the process of fighting corruption many of the blowers have suffered many consequences.’’
Wabba, however, said that even though the Ministry of Finance had promised whistle-blowers that information given would be treated with utmost confidentiality within the law, there was the need for the policy to be legalised.
“For the act to stand the test of time, there must be a law to protect them from any act of embarrassment, and intimidation.
“A lot of whistle blowers are being intimidated even at government offices, while some of them are likely to face harassment, criminal charges, legal action, social stigma, and termination of appointment,’’ he said.
He urged lawmakers to expedite action on the passage of the bills, stating that they would engender increased citizen participation in the anti-graft war and whistle blowing activities.
“The promise by the ministry of finance that the confidentiality of the whistle blowers will be maintained within the law is not enough.’’
Ibrahim Magu, acting Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said the whistle blower police was a move by President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to boost the fight against corruption.
According to Magu, the policy has increased exposure of financial crimes as well as improved the level of public confidence in government entities.
He said that the policy had also enhanced the agency’s fight against corruption, especially in the recovery of public funds.
“The policy is working, just recently EFCC retrieved 9.8 million dollars from Andrew Yakubu, former group managing director of NNPC, thanks to whistle blower policy.
“The policy has led to the recovery of millions of money from various corrupt individuals,’’ he said.
He said though, when funds were discovered, there were certain procedures to be followed, adding that it was responsible for delay in the payment of the affected blowers.
Magu urged Nigerians to embrace the policy in order to prevent more systemic failures and further looting of public funds.
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) had in Dec. 2016 approved the whistle blower as part of efforts to expose fraud and other related crimes in both the public and private sectors.
To encourage active participation in the policy, the Federal Government also promised that anyone who blows whistle leading to the exposure of fraudulent Nigerians who had stolen public funds would be entitled to between 2.5 per cent and 5.0 per cent of the total amount recovered.
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