The Counsel to the Ikoyigate whistle-blower, Yakubu Galadima, says his client will not accept anything below five percent commission, according to Punch.
Owasanoye, who was part of the team that drafted the whistle-blower policy had said, “If you blow the whistle and the government recovers cash, you are entitled to between 2.5 percent and five percent. The maximum limit is five percent.
“According to the policy, if you blow the whistle and it is below N500 million, you get four to five percent because the higher the amount that is recovered, the lower the percentage that is given. This is the global best practice.
“If the recovery is between N500 million and N1 billion, you get three to four percent (commission). If it is N1 billion and above, it is 2.5 percent. Indeed, there is a clause that we included in the policy to say that the government may determine the amount to be awarded based on other criteria provided that the amount to be awarded doesn’t exceed five percent. In other words, the government may actually pay less than 2.5 percent but nobody can be paid more than five percent.”
Reaction: The Ikoyi whistle-blower’s lawyer said that his client would not accept anything less than five percent.
Galadima had stated last week that the commission his client was expecting from the Federal Government was N860 million and not N325 million.
He had also stated that the commission should be paid based on the exchange rate at the time the money was recovered and not the current one.
Also, Owasanoye has revealed that violation of the directive regarding the Treasury Single Account by government agencies and officials tops the list of recoveries made from the whistle-blower policy.
Owasanoye said, “As of the end of October, over 5,000 whistles had been blown and about 75 percent of that came from phone calls. So, you can report on the website, email, text message or phone call.
“What are the things that the various communications have covered? Contract inflation, ‘ghost workers’, payment of unapproved funds, embezzlement of salaries, diversion of excess crude funds, improper reduction of financial penalties, diversion of funds meant for people, placing money in a commercial bank, non-remittance of deduction of pensions or NHIS and failure to implement projects.
“Others include embezzlement of funds received from donors, embezzlement of payment meant for personnel emoluments, violation of TSA which is the highest, violation of FIRS regulations, non-procurement of safety equipment, money laundering, illegal sale of government assets, diversion of IGR which is the second largest, financial misappropriation, concealed bailout funds, mismanagement of micro-finance banks and illegal recruitment.”
Omoleye Omoruyi… an apprentice web/game developer, novelist, sensitive to happenings in the world. Meet him @Lord_rickie on Twitter/Instagram
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