The Explainer: How does Nigeria’s whistleblowing policy work?

One of the biggest news items of the past week has been the discovery of a bunker in a residence owned by the former Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr. Andrew Yakubu containing $9.8million and £78,000 in cash in a safe, to which he has admitted ownership of the said cash, claiming they were gifts.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) which made the discovery and retrieval was alerted to the monies by a whistleblower. Going by the whistleblowing policy that the Federal Government put in place last December to encourage people to expose fraud in the public and private sectors, the whistleblower stands to collect between 2.5 and 5% of the monies recovered.

The policy by the Federal Government is another tool it is hoping will bring much-needed results in fighting corruption in Nigeria. If the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed is to be believed, the policy has been instrumental in the recovery of about N50bn in looted funds.

The policy seems to be a stop-gap measure pending the passage of the Whistleblower Protection Bill (pdf), which is meant to protect persons who expose financial improprieties and corruption in public and private organizations.

The bill which is sponsored by Senator Biodun Olujimi (PDP – Ekiti South) has passed second reading in the Senate since October 2016; however, since then, nothing has been heard of it. The bill, alongside the Asset Forfeiture Bill, Foreign Assistance in Criminal Matters Bill, Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) Bill and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Agency (FATF) Bill is meant to strengthen Nigeria’s fight against corruption and money laundering.

Curiously enough, all the other bills have been passed by both houses of the National Assembly, but they are yet to be signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari.

A whistleblowers’ protection law is not going to be unique to Nigeria; countries such as Turkey, South Africa, South Korea, Australia and a host of others have whistleblowers’ protection laws with varying levels of comprehensiveness (pdf). For example, in the United States, their whistleblowing law is so comprehensive that even foreign nationals can apply for monetary rewards based on reported bribery under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), the law which prohibits American and international companies from paying bribes to foreign officials.

In the meantime, the Federal Government is making do with its Whisteblowing Policy. However, a fact not stated is that the whistleblower does not get his percentage until a conviction is secured based on the information given. This is because until such a conviction, the government cannot take ownership of the money.

Not only that, the whistleblowing policy is unable to provide protection to the whistleblower as would have been provided by the proposed Whistleblowers’ Protection Act. It also remains to be seen if such a policy can be enforced by law, as without a law backing it, the government might not feel compelled to keep its promise.

We hope that the recent discoveries and news of recoveries enhanced by the FG’s whistleblowing policy spurs the Senate into action to act expeditiously on the Whistleblowers’ Protection Bill and pass it into law.

We also hope that President Buhari, who ran on a strong anti-corruption agenda does not delay in assenting to the bill, and that he also assents to the other bills that have been passed by the National Assembly with the objective that they strengthen Nigeria’s fight against corruption.

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