The African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL), has reiterated the need for all citizens to join in the anti-graft war by exposing any form of corrupt practices around them.
Chido Onumah, AFRICMIL Coordinator, made this call at a town hall meeting in Yola, Adamawa State. He explained that every citizen has a role to play in making Nigeria a better place and that according to the country’s constitution, citizens have a duty to help law enforcement agencies with information about fraudulent acts in their respective communities.
Onumah who was represented by Abdulaziz Abdulaziz, the organization’s programme manager, said Nigerians should all take whistleblowing as their little contribution to taking back the country from corrupt elements.
The Yola town hall meeting which is the fourth organized by AFRICMIL to create awareness about the whistleblowing policy of the Nigerian government and how citizens can adopt whistleblowing as tool for tackling corruption.
Participants at the town hall meeting were drawn from government agencies, including the National Orientation Agency (NOA), the Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit (PICA), ICPC and EFCC, civil society organisations and the media.
In his presentation, the Secretary of PICA, Dr. Mohammed Dikwa, who was represented John Waitono, a deputy director at the Federal Ministry of Finance, urged Nigerians to be honest and determined when giving out tips to anti-graft agencies, adding that corruption had always fought back, no matter how small the case. He noted that though corruption is endemic in the country, it is possible to at least reduce it to the barest, but only with determination.
He said that there was need to take the anti-corruption campaign to the local government areas. According to him, “Local government areas today have refused to develop because most local government chairmen think their position is a goldmine. So, they go there, collect their salaries and forget to work for the good of the people.”
The Acting Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, who was represented by the head of the agency’s operations in Gombe, Friday Ebelo, stressed the need to blow the whistle with national interest and no other motive in mind.
“If you report false or misleading information, it will be referred to enforcement agents for investigation and possible prosecution,” he said.
The representative of the Acting Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Anas Lolo, said Nigerians may also submit tips to the Commission as it is saddled with the responsibility of receiving petitions and investigating fraud.
A lecturer at the Adamawa State Polytechnic, Shuaibu Abba, expressed satisfaction with the awareness campaign, noting that more sensitization needs to be done to drive the whistleblowing policy.
“Today, I have learnt something new about whistleblowing, just as I have always tried to teach my students that our little individual contribution in exposing corruption goes a long way.
“This meeting has also succeeded in bringing those we think are far from us really close. The EFCC, ICPC, PICA and others came here to also attend to our questions,” he said.
Participants who spoke at the event commended AFRICMIL for shedding more light on the whistle-blower policy.
