The One-Day Workshop which held on Thursday in Asaba, was themed, “The Role of Journalists in Promoting Whistleblowing and Whistleblower Protection in Nigeria”.
The workshop was jointly organised by AFRICMIL and Progressive Impact Organisation for Community Development (PRIMORG) and Supported by MacArthur Foundation.
In his address of welcome, Dr Chido Onumah, Coordinator, AFRICMIL, said that the workshop was aimed at building a new vision of media and information literacy that provides citizens with the skills required for effective social engagement.
According to him, AFRICMIL is offering opportunities for increased positive participation in media and information and communication technology.
Onumah, represented by Mr Crispin Oduobuk, Snr. Programme Officer Policy and Advocacy, AFRICMIL, said that AFRICMIL had built strategic alliance across sectors since 2017 under a project called ” Corruption Anonymous (CORA).
“We have been working with Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit (PICA), a unit in the Federal Ministry of Finance and other relevant stakeholders in government, Civil Society and media to promote the whistleblowing policy.
“This policy was introduce by Federal Government in December 2016.
“We started by creating awareness and sensitising the public to importance of whistleblowing as a tool for fighting corruption and checking other forms of wrongdoing in society.
“Also advocating honest implementation of the policy and ensuring effective protection for people who show the courage to blow the whistle in the interest of the public and are going through punishments for doing so,” he said.
He said that AFRICMIL was working to institutionalise whistleblowing as a mechanism to achieve transparency, accountability and proper democratic governance in Nigeria and across other ECOWAS member states.
According to him this workshop is aimed at equipping journalists with a better understanding of the concept of whistleblowing as a good governance tool.
“And the goal is to instill in journalists the need to consistently promote the culture of whistleblowing and ensure protection for whistleblowers who face attacks for reporting corruption and other wrongdoings.
” We believe that by the nature of what they do, journalists and whistleblowers cannot be separated. Both are dedicated to holding power to account by bringing up the facts.
“In this era when information is proving more difficult to find, it is only whistleblowers who can comfortably maneuver and supply the information to journalists need.
“But for the relationship between the two to be effective, journalists must understand the risks whistleblowers face and do their best to protect them.”
On his part, Mr Johnson Oludare, Deputy Director, Federal Ministry of Finance, Abuja, in his paper, ” Understanding the Nigerian Whistleblowing Policy, said for journalists to function effectively as whistleblower, he must have good knowledge of the law.
Oludare, represented by Mr Godwin Onyeacholem, the Programme Manager, AFRICMIL, said unfortunately, there was no law in place to protect whistleblowers in the country.
“A Whistleblower is one who voluntarily disclosed Information to government about fraud.”
He noted that the Federal Government had through the voluntary efforts of whistleblowers recovered huge sums of money, adding that there were rewards for whistleblowing but it comes when recovery were made.
Mr Austin Agbonsuremi, Executive Director, PRIMORG, while presenting a paper on “The Role of Journalists in Promoting Whistleblowing and Whistleblowers Protection”, said that the safest and fastest ways to check corruption was for journalists to partner whistleblowers.
He said that journalists must leverage on the Freedom of Information Act and other relevant sections of the constitution to fight corruption.
He said that because whistleblowers in the country were not protected, journalists had to give them the needed support to check corruption in the society.
According to him, journalists and other stakeholders should collaborate to ensure that the bill currently before the National Assembly is passed to provide the needed protection for Whistleblowers in Nigeria.
