The African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL), a non-governmental organisation engaged no fewer than 25 journalists to instill in them the need to consistently promote the culture of protecting themselves and the whistleblowers who face serious attacks for reporting corruption and other wrongdoings.
The workshop was held in Asaba, with the theme, ‘The Role of Journalists in Promoting Whistleblowing and Whistleblower Protection in Nigeria.’ Speaking at the workshop, which was jointly organised by AFRICMIL and Progressive Impact Organisation for Community Development (PRIMORG) and Supported by MacArthur Foundation, the Coordinator, AFRICMIL, Dr Chido Onumah, said the workshop was aimed at building a new vision of media and information literacy that provides citizens with the skills required for effective social engagement.
He said: “We believe that by the nature of what they do, both journalists and whistleblowers cannot be separated, as they are assigned to holding power to account by bringing up the facts.
According to him, AFRICMIL is offering opportunities for increased positive participation in media and information and communication technology. Onumah, represented by Mr Crispin Oduobuk, Snr. Programme Officer Policy and Advocacy, AFRICMIL, said that AFRICMIL had built strategic alliance across sectors since 2017 under a project called Corruption Anonymous (CORA).
“We have been working with Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit (PICA), a unit in the Federal Ministry of Finance and other relevant stakeholders in government, Civil Society and media to promote the whistleblowing policy.
“This policy was introduced by Federal Government in December 2016. And we started by creating awareness and sensitising the public the importance of whistleblowing as a tool for fighting corruption and checking other forms of wrongdoing in society.
He said that AFRICMIL was working to institutionalise whistleblowing as a mechanism to achieve transparency, accountability and proper democratic governance in Nigeria and across other ECOWAS member states.
Executive Director, PRIMORG, Mr Austin Agbonsuremi, while presenting a paper on ‘The Role of Journalists in Promoting Whistleblowing and Whistleblowers Protection’, said the safest and fastest ways to check corruption was for journalists to partner whistleblowers. He said that journalists must leverage on the Freedom of Information Act and other relevant sections of the constitution to fight corruption.
Also speaking, Deputy Director, Federal Ministry of Finance, Abuja, Mr Johnson Oludare, in his paper, ” Understanding the Nigerian Whistleblowing Policy, said for journalists to function effectively as whistleblower, he must have good knowledge of the law.
Oludare, represented by Mr Godwin Onyeacholem, the Programme Manager, AFRICMIL, said unfortunately, there was no law in place to protect whistleblowers in the country.
