Group urges Tinubu to sign whistleblower protection bill into law

The Coordinator of the African Centre for Media and Information Literacy, Dr Chido Onumah, has called on President Bola Tinubu to quicken the passage of the whistleblower protection bill and ensure it is signed into law.

Onumah said passage of the bill will ensure the protection of whistleblowers which is crucial to the success of whistleblowing policy implementation and the fight against corruption.

He stated these in Awka, on Friday, during a one-day review meeting and step-down training on strengthening the capacity of community-based organisations on whistleblowing and whistleblower protection.

The event, themed, ‘Sharing impact by community-based organisations on the promotion of whistleblowing policy in Anambra State’, was aimed at interacting with critical stakeholders on the framework of the whistleblowing policy and strengthening the capacity of CBOs towards the policy.

Onumah, represented at the event by the Senior Programme Officer of the organisation, Ugwu Nkechi, said the group had made progress by ensuring the approval of the bill by the Federal Executive Council last December, stressing that it was already working with partners to ensure the enactment of the law as quickly as possible.

He said the immediate past administration of President Muhammadu Buhari did not pass the whistleblowing protection draft bill into law before the expiration of the tenure.

He said, “As you all are aware, protection of whistleblowers is crucial to the success of whistleblowing policy implementation. Unfortunately, there is no law yet to back the policy.

“But we are no longer where we were when we came here for the town hall meeting and the step-down training. We have made progress by ensuring the bill was approved by the Federal Executive Council last December.

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“We are already working with partners to ensure the enactment of the law as quickly as possible.”

The State Resident, Anti-Corruption Commissioner, Independent Corruption Practices Commission, Mr Godwin Oche, said the Commission had deployed the whistleblowing tool in recovering various sums of money and properties, including vehicles.

Oche regretted that the commission had faced challenges in terms of false information which led to the prosecution of the whistle-blower.

He affirmed that the commission had also offered protection to some of the whistle-blowers that have come under attack from the people and agencies indicted.

“Fighting corruption in a developing nation like Nigeria remains a work in progress. The ubiquitous litanies of woes of corruption on our moral, socio-economic, and national development are very alarming.

“It, therefore, requires joint efforts of state and non-state actors to reduce corruption in Nigeria to the barest minimum and birth a country of our dream,” he added.

On his part, the Chairman of the Anambra Civil Society Network, Prince Chris Azor, noted that corruption simply means “misappropriation of our commonwealth”, pointing out that it remains the right of citizens to hold their leaders, accountable at all times.

“We are proud to note that Community Based Organizations have been monitoring projects at their localities and these steps have been yielding dividends,” he noted.

Group urges Tinubu to sign whistleblower protection bill into law