The federal government says it will take a bold step to formalize as well as mainstream the whistle blowing unit as a full-fledged operational unit within ministry of finance.
Kemi Adeosun, minister of Finance announced this in Abuja on Tuesday stating that the whistle blowing policy is one of the key initiatives of the Buhari administration to curb corruption.
At the Bureau of Public Service Reforms Seminar titled “the Whistle blower policy and its implication for Public Servants”, Adeosun said the government received over 5,000 communications as at July under the new policy and through various reporting channels set up.
She said that over half of the 365 actionable tips received from the public servants touched on issues such as contract inflation, ghost workers, illegal recruitments, misappropriation of funds, illegal sale of Government assets, diversion of revenues, and violation of TSA regulations, amongst others.
“In reviewing the information we receive, we have noticed that certain type of tips are recurring, for example; 39% (144) of the actionable tips relate to misappropriation and diversion of funds/revenue, 16% (60) relate to ghost workers, illegal recruitments and embezzlement of funds meant for personnel emolument, 15% (56) relate to violation of
TSA regulation, 13% (49) relate to contract inflation/violation of the procurement act and failure to carry out projects for which funds have been released and 9% (34) relate to non-remittance of pension & NHIS deductions. Others include concealed bail-out funds and embezzlement of funds from donor agencies,” she noted.
She added that overall, the volume of tips received has been greater and of higher quality than expected when the programme was first adopted.
According to her, government is analyzing trends and taking corrective actions, as she noted that for example many of the salary, tax and pension under remittance cases shared a common thread.
“Several cases where Institutions were found to have insufficient funds to meet there obligations often had illegal recruitments which bloated the wage bill and agencies responded by part paying or short paying salaries, whilst applying to FG for salary
shortfall payments. We are revising our procedures for approval of recruitment, which will improve our budgeting and control.
She assured that the protection of the whistle blowers are fully guaranteed as the Senate has recently passed the Whistle Blowers protection Bill which gives a whistle blower protection under the laws of Nigeria adding also that all whistleblowers can report their information without revealing their identity.
“The protection of public sector whistleblowers from retaliation for reporting in good faith is therefore integral in our effort to combat corruption and enhance accountability, these are not just words as the Senate recently passed the Whistleblower Protection Bill which gives a whistleblower protection under the laws of Nigeria”, she said.
She stressed that the government will continue to work towards improving and building the right capacity of the Whistleblowing unit adding that the Unit will be going on a study tour to Australia to understand how they have been able to successfully implement the policy.
According to her, a whistleblower is entitled to between 2.5 percent and 5 percent of the amount recovered if the information provided directly leads to the recovery of stolen funds or assets, adding that whistleblowers have so far been paid a total of 325 million naira.
Joe Abah, DG, bureau of public service reforms stated in his remark that the monthly seminar is aimed at informing public servants about the various steps and reforms that the government is taking and also to provide reforms makers the opportunity to explain these reforms to the public servant and let them know their roles to play .
He further stressed that there is need for everyone to be involved in the tackling of corruption stressing that the government is out to much more provide sanctions for anyone who carry out any corrupt practice and give incentives to those who do the right thing.
Cynthia Egboboh, Abuja
