Successive governments in Nigeria have identified corruption as a prime and endemic cancer that has militated against meaningful human and infrastructural development in the country.
At the advent of the current democratic era in 1999, the then President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, a retired General of the Nigerian Army, declared a war on corruption and left no one in doubt as to his determination to fight the monster to a standstill.
To win this war, President Obasanjo established the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), and later on, it’s sister agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), with a clear mandate to rid the country of corruption.
The governments of late Umaru Yar’adua and Dr Goodluck Jonathan in their own ways, sustained this fight, and were arguably, able to record some feats.
During the build up to the 2015 general elections, apart from his perceived personal integrity, Muhammadu Buhari’s vow to fight corruption and recover looted funds, was what most endeared him to the hearts of Nigerians and reckoned him above his opponent, the then incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan.
At every given opportunity both home and abroad, Buhari left no one in doubt about his determination to emphatically bring an end to the corruption canker and the his rhetoric was that we should “kill corruption before corruption kills us.”
In line with this vow, President Buhari, through the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation on Wednesday, 21 December,2016 launched a whistle blowing policy to facilitate the anti-corruption war.
According to Mrs Kemi Adeosun, the Minister of Finance, the whistle-blowing policy is aimed at encouraging anyone with information about a violation of financial regulations, mismanagement of public funds and assets, financial malpractice, fraud and theft to report it to the authorities.
On a lighter note, someone has said that the whistle blowers are the relatives, staff or friends of the blowee, who did not feel any blow when the blowee was blowing cash around. I agree.
It is heartening that the whistle blower policy has led to the recovery of over 151million dollars and 8billion naira in looted funds. This much was disclosed by Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information and Culture.
Other recoveries include, 9.8million dollars cash “gift” recovered from Engr Andrew Yakubu, 49million naira intercepted at the Kaduna airport, 250million naira cash at the Balogun market Lagos, 441million naira from an abandoned bureau de change building in Lagos.
The latest of the recovery is 43.4million dollars,27,800 pounds, and 23.2million naira, all from the luxury Osborne Towers, Ikoyi Lagos.
With the successes recorded within the short time of implementing the policy, one can be safe to state that the policy is a good antidote in combating the ills of corruption.
However, for these successes to be sustained, government must provide a legal framework that will cover the policy as well as protect the whistle blower. There is more so in view of the argument that aspects of the policy such as the undertaking to pay a percentage of recovered loots to the whistle blower is unconstitutional.
Proper legal framework is also desirable for the sake of sustainability especially when one considers the political culture in Nigeria where successor governments abandon policies and projects of predecessor governments. Therefore, the Buhari government must find a way of ensuring that this policy outlives it.
In conclusion, the zeal by Nigerians to acquire more information about the policy clearly shows willingness on the part of the citizenry to report financial crimes and corruption and to be part of the process of “killing corruption”.
Hence it is imperative for the government to market the policy and widen the horizon of its anti corruption fight to all, including the private sector.

Manang Joshua Jabbe, ESQ
Legal practitioner, socio-political analyst and Human Rights advocate
08134069256
[email protected]

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Whistle Blowing: An Antidote to Corruption in Nigeria – Manang Joshua Jabbe, ESQ