Whistleblowers victimised in Nigeria’s public sector, anti-corruption coalition laments

In commemoration of International Anti-Corruption Day, a non-governmental organisation, the Whistleblowing Advocacy Coalition (WAC), has raised the alarm that whistleblowers who report acts of corruption in Nigeria’s public sector are being harassed and victimised at their places of work. 

The coalition disclosed this, yesterday, in a statement, titled: ‘Whistleblowing Legislation and Whistleblower Protection in Nigeria’, ahead of International Anti-Corruption Day 2022.

According to the coalition, some of the whistleblowers are denied salaries for refusing to participate in corrupt acts.

The statement reads: “We note that unlike in the early stages of the whistleblowing policy, when people showed tremendous enthusiasm about submitting reports, which resulted in frequent recovery of looted public funds, there has been a noticeable severe reduction in people’s interest in passing on information to anti-corruption agencies.

“The major reason is that the whistleblowing policy, which this administration introduced, six years ago, has remained a policy, with no framework for protecting whistleblowers who are continually subjected to all kinds of punishment for reporting fraud and corrupt practices in their offices.

“Many whistleblowers in the public sector have been visited with adverse actions ranging from dismissal, suspension without pay, denial of salary and promotion, intimidation, harassment, etc. Even to exercise the right to refuse participation in corrupt acts attracts punishment from the management of public institutions.

“Thus, because workers see that their colleagues who report crime or refuse to be part of a crime are being victimised without any form of protection, many of them are discouraged from making disclosures of wrongdoing even when they see one.”

The organisation said it has taken significant steps to resolve the issue with civil society and media partners who have a passion to curb corruption in the country.

The coalition expressed hope that the Whistleblowing Bill would be considered at the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting and sent to the National Assembly for passage before the 2023 general elections.