In line with the federal government’s policy on the fight against corruption, an international organization known as the Cleen foundation in collaboration with the Prison Inmate Development Initiative (PIDI) have appealed to the Bauchi state government to domesticate the whistleblower policy.
The Executive Director of Prison Inmate Development Initiative (PIDI), Mr Mbami Iliya Sabka who made the appeal in a press release in Bauchi on Sunday said that the policy will be strengthened as a milestone to become operational in the state.
“Even though the policy has not become a Law as it is still pending at the National Assembly, there is the need for the Bauchi state government through the state assembly, to create and pass into law, the whistleblower policy to guarantee probity, transparency and accountability amongst public servants.
“The Whistleblower policy which was created by the Federal Ministry of Finance scaled through the second reading in October 2016 at the National Assembly and was approved by the Federal Executive Council in December same year. The policy states that if the government is able to recover stolen or concealed assets through information given by a whistle-blower, then he/she may be entitled to between 2.5%-5.0% of the recovered amount”
“To qualify for the reward, the policy indicated that the whistle-blower must provide the government with information it does not already have and could not otherwise obtain from any other available source to the Government”, the statement read.
The director noted that the whistleblower must voluntarily disclose to the Federal Government of Nigeria, through the Federal Ministry of Finance, possible misconduct or violation that has occurred, ongoing, or is about to occur with specific concerns which are in the public interest, adding that it is an anti-corruption programme that encourages people to voluntarily disclose information about fraud, bribery, looted government funds, financial misconduct and government assets.
“It was reported that within the first two months of the Whistle-blowing policy in Nigeria, the Federal Government of Nigeria recovered over $178 million that were stolen from the government. By June 5, 2017, the Federal Ministry of Finance received a total of 2,150 tips from the public, 128 tips came through the website of the ministry, 1,192 was through phone calls, 540 through SMS and 290 through email to the ministry” he added.
