Participants at a radio town hall meeting on Whistleblowing and whistleblowers protection in Abuja have disagreed on the period of time a whistleblower should wait before receiving financial rewards for reporting corruption.
While representatives of some anti-corruption organs in the country, including the Police, said whistleblowers should exercise patience pending the determination of the cases arising from their reports, members of the public who called into the program, however noted that the delay is a disincentive to whistleblowers, stressing that those who blow the whistle will prefer getting instant reward.
The radio program was organized by the African Centre for Media & Information Literacy (AFRICMIL) in collaboration with the Progressive Impact Organization for Community Development (PRIMORG), to drum up support for whistleblowing in the fight against corruption in Nigeria.
A representative of the Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO) – Nigeria Police at the program, CSP Femi Adedeji, emphasized the need for patience from informants who always insist on being paid immediately they provide information on crimes and corruption issues.
Similarly, the Spokesperson of Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offenses Commission (ICPC) Azuka Ogugua also insisted that the veracity of all reports should be concluded before payment is made to the informants.
Explaining some of the challenges, CSP Adedeji said; “For instance, where you said I have recovered 10 naira and we have arrested Mr A and then the whistleblower is saying give me my share and then still in the court, the judge has not even decided whether he is guilty of stealing the money in the first place and then everybody starts saying why don’t we give him his share when we are not even sure if the money recovered belongs to Mr. A or the court or judge is going to say Mr A is guilty or Mr A is going to jail in the first place.
So, when we begin to say you have to wait, they begin to say we gave you information and then you didn’t act on it or look at the way you treated me and then next time I am not going to tell you anything.”
But a caller, identified as Ojo said the position of the police will not encourage citizens to report corruption, saying; “to what extent do you think we need to determine a case before you give a whistle his share? Those are the things that must be properly spelt out in whatever they are doing.
“A whistleblower cannot wait for you to go through court processes in Nigeria, especially the judiciary that is corrupt, if not you won’t get the support and interest of the people. A lot of people have lots of information for this country as we speak today but cannot come forward because there is no encouragement,” Ojo said.
Another contributor, Vincent Okolo asked; “When you give police information, are they going to protect you or at the end, will they disclose your identity to people you reported.
“Let the Police create a platform that when you have an information you drop it there, and not when people give police information they end up being targets,” he said.
Responding, CSP Adedeji said: “people talk a lot, some whistleblowers also double whistle, they talk anyhow, some whistleblowers find a twitter handle or a Facebook page to say look, I am the one who did this for them.”
Speaking for ICPC, Azuka Ogugua, emphasized that citizens will get it wrong if all they think about is the monetary gains when they report corruption.
In his own contribution, the Program Officer, Anti-corruption at Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Samuel Asimi, said the anti-corruption agencies in Nigeria are hindered from achieving their mandate using whistleblowing because of issues of anonymity, protection and lack of capacity by anti-corruption agencies to discharge their duties.
Also speaking, Head of Programs at Center for Democracy and Development (CDD), Dr Allison Timipre, decried the lack of political will from government to push the fight against corruption to its logical ends was affecting citizens’ participation in exposing corruption. He said; “the fact that citizens don’t see the government give proper account for recovered loots discourages them from coming forward to expose corruption.”
Timipre, however, charged anti-graft agencies in the country to have an improved public enlightenment program and should make the best use of the media in achieving their mandate, while urging citizens to not to be deterred in exposing corruption but continue doing their best in nation building.
