AFRICMIL urges Edun to fasttrack passage of whistleblower protection law

The African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL) has expressed deep concern about the delay in the passage of the whistleblowing and whistleblower protection bill into law in Nigeria.

In a letter to Chief Adebayo Olawale Edun, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, AFRICMIL’s Coordinator, Dr. Chido Onumah, said: “We cannot emphasize enough that a protection law is long overdue, nor can the critical role of whistleblowers in the achievement of transparency, accountability, and good governance be understated.”

AFRICMIL observed that the 9th National Assembly failed to pass the bill into law for reasons that have remained unclear, pointing out that, in the face of unchecked retaliation encouraged by the lack of legal cover, many potential whistleblowers have advised themselves against blowing the whistle on wrongdoing.

“As a consequence, accountability in both public and private sectors has continued to suffer to a large extent,” the letter stated.

The organization recalled that, at a whistleblowing sensitization workshop hosted by the Federal Ministry of Finance last August, the Minister reiterated the importance of whistleblowing and the need for a whistleblower protection law as a means of addressing corrupt practices and other illegalities in the country.

According to the letter, at that event, the Minister promised to ensure the prompt passage of the bill into law.

“We are happy to note that, as promised, you sent the bill back to the Presidency. But we are worried that it appears no action has been taken since then to move the bill from the Presidency to the National Assembly for a more meaningful outcome,” AFRICMIL noted.

It urged the minister to deploy his goodwill to cause “immediate positive action to be taken so Nigeria can have a whistleblower protection law and join Ghana, which is the only country to date in West Africa to have such a progressive sunshine law.”

“There is no doubt that having a whistleblower protection law will be a great leap forward in the desire for democratic accountability in Nigeria and the subregion at a time President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is the chairman of ECOWAS,” the letter noted.