The Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun Tuesday, in Abuja at a seminar organised by the Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR) on “The Whistleblower Policy and its Implication for Public Servants’’ says the whistleblower policy is a successful initiative of the Federal Government, NAN reports.

The Federal Government introduced The Whistleblower Policy in December 2016 as part of the initiatives to wage war against corruption.

Highlights of her statement:

• Over 5,000 reports have been made through various reporting channels, 365 actionable tips are received out of the 5000 reports. Over half of the reports came from public servants.
• The tips were related to issues of contract inflation, ghost workers, illegal recruitment and misappropriation of funds. Others include illegal sale of government assets, diversion of revenues and violation of Treasury Single Account (TSA) regulations.
• Thirty-nine per cent (144) of the actionable tips relate to misappropriation and diversion of funds/revenue, 16 per cent (60) relate to ghost workers, illegal recruitment and embezzlement of funds meant for personnel emolument. Fifteen per cent (56) relates to a violation of TSA regulation, 13 per cent (49) relate to contract inflation/violation of the Procurement Act. Others include failure to carry out projects for which funds have been released and nine per cent (34) relate to non-remittance of pension and National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) deductions.
• The whistleblower was entitled to between 2.5 per cent and five per cent of the amount recovered as an incentive.
• There are serious consequences for providing false or malicious information, including the possibility of prosecution.

What the legislature has done:

• The Nigerian Senate passed a bill that seeks to protect those who expose corrupt practices in government – otherwise known as whistleblowers.

Reaction from a stakeholder:

• The Director General, BPSR, Dr Joe Abah, said corruption was a major issue in Nigeria and the whistleblower policy was in tandem with the agency’s reform campaign.

Omoleye Omoruyi

Omoleye Omoruyi… an apprentice web/game developer, novelist, sensitive to happenings in the world. Meet him @Lord_rickie on Twitter/Instagram