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Corruption: CSOs,Others Advocate Legislation Of Whistleblowing

Posted by: Quickresponse | November 10, 2023

The Coordinator of African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL), Chido Onumah, has called on the Nigerian government to enact a whistleblower protection law to protect patriotic citizens who expose corruption and other wrongdoings in the interest of the public.
Mr Onumah made the call in his opening remarks at a Policy Roundtable on “Towards a Whistleblower Protection Law in Nigeria,” held in Abuja on Tuesday.
The event was organised by AFRICMIL; Progressive Impact Organisation for Community Development (PRIMORG); Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Foundation (SMYF) and partners, with the support of MacArthur Foundation.
“Since the federal government introduced a whistleblower protection in December 2016, there have been efforts to enact a whistleblower protection law in Nigeria without success. Today’s event is one attempt in this regard. So far, about 10 out of 55 African countries have adopted specific laws to protect whistleblowers.

“Considering the efforts of civil society organisations and partners, including the media, in the last five years, there is some level of awareness about whistleblowing and willingness on the part of patriotic Nigerians to blow the whistle on corruption and other wrongdoing in the interest of the public,” Mr Onumah said.
The AFRICMIL coordinator said it observed from a nationwide survey conducted in 2021 that Nigerians are reluctant to uncover many societal ills because of the absence of a whistleblowing law.
He said the aim of the roundtable was to develop key ideas and strategies to put whistleblowing and the passage of a whistleblower protection law in Nigeria on the front burner of national conversation.
Mr Onumah explained that whistleblowers play instrumental role in the prevention and eradication of corruption as well as in the promotion of human rights.

“Over the years, they have uncovered and disclosed information on various corrupt and suspicious dealings linked to politically exposed persons and corrupt public officials, leading to wider public debates about corruption and the need for accountability, the adoption of transparency regulations, investigations by national authorities and international bodies, and the condemnation and prosecution of those involved,” he said.
He added that whistleblowers role is globally accepted in many anti-corruption treaties, including in Article 33 of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) in order to protect citizens against any unjustified treatment when they make report in good faith.

Why Whistleblowers Protection Law should be Multifaceted

The lead speaker, Maxwell Kadiri, of the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA), said the bill that should be transmitted for whistleblowers protection law should be multifaceted in outlook beyond its face value for corruption.
He said whistleblowing has brought out a malfeasance in the context of all that should be provided to the public because there are pockets of whistleblowing either direct policies or existing provisions in different government establishments.
Mr Kadiri told the participants that though the whistleblowing bill was initiated by the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari with the support of civil societies as executive bill, the last National Assembly did not pass it.

He urged everyone to put their hands on deck in ensuring that whatever bill that would be going to National Assembly is stronger than the policies that exist.
He encouraged the participants to bring input into the bill to close gaps in ensuring greater protection for whistleblowers.

Mr Kadiri lamented that there are many inadequacies in policies as well as in the bill to tackle malfeasance in the private sector.
He said the text of the whistleblowers protection bill should be revised thereby unpacked the nuts and bolts in the protection of whistleblowers, saying, the law should be progressive and strong for the common good of the nation.

The lead speaker said African Union Advisory Board Against Corruption (AUABC) is working on a model of whistleblowing protection in 2024 for her members and it is an opportunity for Nigeria being the giant of Africa to have a law in place that will not fall short of the emerging standards.

“The time for this bill is now, and we can’t afford to sit on the sideline while other countries in the subregion and the continent make progress.
“There was hope that the last administration that gave birth to the policy would also seek the enactment of the law to back the policy, but that hope was not realised.
“It is important that whatever bill we are pushing is stronger than the policies that exist, and not have a bill that is weaker than the policies that exist.”
“The bill needs to build on what exist in policy and ensure greater protection for whistleblowers. Also, the gaps in those policies are also corrected.
“A bill that does not deal with all of challenges beyond just public sector, does not deliver the goods. Nigeria has a treaty obligation that makes it mandatory for us to enact a law. We need to strengthen the text of whatever bill we currently have.”
“What the whistleblowing legislation does is to unpack the nuts and bolts of the protection. The document should be stronger and also ensuring that it does not fall short of the emerging standards because if the AUABC develops a model next year, and our bill falls short, it’ will not help us in anyway,” Mr Kadiri said.
He added that there is a need to have a consensus name for the bill to remove sentiment from its quick passage as other countries have adopted Protection Disclosure Act.

“There is a conversation about what should be the title of the legislation of that sort because there are consensus that using the expression whistleblowers protection law, raises a lot of sentiments. There is a conversation around probably considering Protected Disclosure Act as a way to go,” he said.
As part of the event, there was a panel of discussion on Whistleblower Protection Bill initiated by the Federal Executive Council,” comprising Amara Nwankpa, Policy Director, Yar’Adua Foundation; Johnson Oludare, Assistant Director, Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit (PICA); Adesoji Afolabi, Chief Legal Officer, Ministry of Justice representing Director of Legal Drafting, Federal Ministry of Justice; Godwin Chigbu, Lead Counsel, Godwin Chigbu and Associate and Chigozirim Okoro, Programme Manager, CLEEN Foundation.
Mr Oludare told the participants that Ministry of Finance where the bill was domiciled, transmitted it to the 9th Assembly, but the lawmakers did not work on it.

He however promised to ensure needed steps are taken to ensure the bill is once again taken to the National Assembly.
Reacting, Mr Afolabi said the Federal Ministry of Justice had adequately taken care of alleged fears by civil societies.
He said the reason the present assembly cannot work on the bill now is because it was not passed.

He said since the Federal Executive Council has a policy on continuum, the government will do everything to ensure it is returned to the National Assembly.
“We have prepared the bill and forwarded it to the Federal Ministry of Finance for onward transmission to the National Assembly because they are the sponsor. Our job at the Ministry of Justice was to ensure the provisions in the bill are not conflicting with any law.
“In legislative process and procedures, once a bill couldn’t be passed in the last Assembly, that means it needs to be reintroduced, and I think the Federal Ministry of Finance is about doing that.
“Government will put all efforts to ensure that the bill is reintroduced, and when it is done, I trust our Honourable Attorney General will now take it up from there, because you can’t fight corruption based on policy because whistleblower policy does not have the force of law,” Mr Afolabi said.
The event also witnessed goodwill messages from MacArthur Foundation, Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit (PICA), Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), National Orientation Agency (NOA), Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), Nigeria Police Force (NPF), Amnesty International and others.