The African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL) has voiced deep concern over the prolonged delay in enacting Nigeria’s whistleblower protection bill, calling on the Minister of Finance, Olawale Edun, to expedite the process.
In a letter addressed to the minister on Thursday, AFRICMIL’s Coordinator, Dr. Chido Onumah, stressed the urgent need for a legal framework to safeguard whistleblowers, highlighting its importance in fostering transparency, accountability, and good governance.
Nigeria’s whistleblowing policy, introduced by the Federal Ministry of Finance in 2016, was aimed at encouraging citizens to report fraud, bribery, and misappropriation of public funds. However, its effectiveness has diminished over time, leading the Federal Government to approve a new whistleblower draft bill in December 2022.
Despite this, the bill failed to pass under the 9th National Assembly, leaving whistleblowers without legal protection and exposing them to retaliation.
“We cannot emphasise enough that a protection law is long overdue, nor can the critical role of whistleblowers in achieving transparency, accountability, and good governance be understated,” Onumah stated.
He urged the finance minister to leverage his position to fast-track the bill’s passage, noting that its enactment would place Nigeria alongside Ghana as the only West African countries with such a progressive legal framework.
“A whistleblower protection law will be a great leap forward in ensuring democratic accountability in Nigeria, especially as President Bola Ahmed Tinubu currently chairs ECOWAS,” Onumah added.
