Whistle Blowing Movement
May 8, 2018
The African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL), on Tuesday, urged Nigerians to support the Federal Government’s anti-corruption fight through its whistle blowing policy.
AFRICMIL made this call at a town hall meeting on whistle blowing and the fight against corruption in Lagos.
Mr Chido Onumah, the Coordinator of AFRICMIL, said the meeting was aimed at sensitising the public and strengthening the whistle blowing policy of the Federal Government.
“AFRICMIL is a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) that focuses on the media, information, research advocacy and training.
“Our objective is to deploy new media and information technology to address the country’s socio-economic challenges.
“We are using this opportunity to create awareness about whistle blowing and to make Nigerians see the need for government to use it as a tool to reduce corruption,” he said.
He said that the aim was to make Nigerians to know that the fight against corruption should not be left to government authorities alone.
He, however, stressed the need for the government to ensure the security and safety of whistle-blowers.
“Whistle blowing as an instrument of tackling corruption, can only survive when the safety of the whistle-blower is guaranteed,” he said.
Earlier, Mr Muhammed Isah, from the Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit (PICA), said the whistle blowing policy was initiated in 2016 under PICA to encourage citizens to support anti-corruption fight.
He said that through the policy, PICA had since recovered a lot of stolen assets for the government.
“We achieved milestones in the recovery of salaries to former diplomats, reduction of personnel cost of government departments and agencies, payroll shortfall verification, etc.,” he said.
Participants at the meeting included officials from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).
Also in attendance, was the National Orientation Agency (NOA) as well as the Civil Society Organisation (CSO).
