The Coordinator of the African Centre for Media and Information Literacy, Chido Onumah, has said that the whistleblower policy has made a lot impact in the anti-corruption campaign since it was introduced by the Federal Government of Nigeria in December 2016.
He was speaking when he led a delegation from AFRICMIL on a courtesy call to the Abuja headquarters of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA). Said Onumah, “Through whistleblowing, a lot of money has been recovered and this must be sustained to ensure that the policy permeates every aspect of our national life.”
AFRICMIL is a civil society organization working on a project tagged Corruption Anonymous designed to build public support for the whistleblower policy, as well as encourage active citizens’ participation in whistleblowing as a tool for fighting corruption. The project is being implemented with the support of John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
Onumah said the advocacy visits would explore opportunities for partnership with the media to give voice to whistleblowing.
According to him, “It is one thing to have a policy, and another to have the policy run smoothly.” To this end, AFRICMIL has decided to focus on three key areas in advancing the whistleblower policy. They include creating awareness, protection and safety of whistleblowers, and ensuring the integrity of the process. He said the organization looked forward to a robust relationship with the NTA.
In his response, the Executive Director News of NTA, Muhammad Labbo, noted that being an authoritative and credible television station, NTA would support AFRIMIL to achieve its goals. “Just like your organization, we take this administration’s anti-corruption campaign very seriously. Therefore, we would do everything to make you realize your objectives,” Labbo assured.
He urged AFRICMIL to give greater attention in its advocacy to what he called the “mainstream media” which he said had consistently discredited the anti-corruption war of this government.
