ITSE SAGAY, the chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC) has revealed that the Federal Government of Nigeria has been able to recover N549.09 billion stolen funds in less than three years through its whistleblowing policy.
He disclosed this at the opening ceremony of a two-day workshop on Entrenching Whistleblowing Policy in Regulatory and Revenue Generating Agencies in Nigeria organised by the PACAC in collaboration with the African Centre for Media Information and Literacy, (AFRICMIL) in Abuja on Wednesday.
According to Sagay, the policy has been successful in terms of government assets recovery through whistleblowing as well as the revelation of the varieties of fraudulent ways through which some Nigerians steal from the country.
He added that although the policy has been successful, there is still a vital need to elevate it from being a policy to an Act of the Parliament to encourage more whistleblowers.
“Leaving it as a policy will create the impression that the Federal Government is not bound to pay a reward for information leading to recoveries thus discouraging informants, secondly, a legal framework will contain provision not only for the protection of the informant’s identity but also in extreme cases for giving such informants new identities for their protection, ” Sagay noted.
Coordinator of AFRICMIL, Chindo Onumah while delivering his welcome remarks at the event said the government needs to adopt a strategic tool for reducing corruption if it intends to popularize whistleblowing.
He added that AFRICMIL has embarked on crucial activities in three years by creating awareness through media and civil society engagements, stakeholders’ forum, training for staff of the Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit (PICA) among other things.
Speaking on the importance of eradicating corruption in the governance of Nigeria he said: “achieving that means greater transparency from government organisations responsible for government’s revenue or whose regulatory functions have a direct bearing on economic growth”.
In his remarks, the Deputy Director of MacArthur Foundation in Nigeria, Oladayo Olaide said if citizens were able to expose corrupt practices then the government owed them a duty to be able to take actions when they were exposed.
He noted the importance of accounting officers across Nigerian ministries and agencies to be accountable to the people on the public resources at their disposal.
Lukman Abolade is an Investigative reporter with The ICIR. Reach out to him via [email protected], on twitter @AboladeLAA and FB @Correction94