Lawyers say Nigerian legal system must create room for whistleblowers
NAN-H-10
Whistleblowers
By Wandoo Sombo
Abuja, Sept. 18, 2016 (NAN) A human rights activist, Mrs Esther Uzoma, says the Nigerian legal system must create an enabling environment to encourage whistleblowers as part of efforts in the fight against corruption.
Uzoma made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Sunday.
She said that the importance of whistleblowing would not be effective without enabling environment backed by legislation.
The activist said that Nigeria’s social environment as currently constituted was not yet ripe for whistleblowers due to weak institutions.
According to her, the social environment that we live in does not encourage whistleblowing because we have very weak institutions championed and dominated by personalities.
“Whistleblowers are people who are part of the system but do not like what the system is doing, so they come out to tell the world the rot that the system is harbouring,” she said.
Uzoma, a lawyer, said that the unique position of the whistleblower is grounded in patriotism and trust in government institutions.
She, however, noted that these qualities were presently lacking in the country.
According to her, the degeneracy in the security system is such that people who give information eventually become the hunted.
“As a result of this, you don’t find people eager to say what is happening because they know that once they open their mouths and say it, the very people they report to are the same ones who will expose them.
“You find out that we have institutions that differ to the government in power that is why the place of the whistleblower is lacking
“There is a lot of mistrust between the citizens and institutions of government and this will not augur well for the citizen because there is nobody to blow whistle to.
“But I think this current assembly is working out a bill in that light so maybe it will help,” the activist said.
She noted that the only way whistleblowers could be encouraged was if they were guaranteed adequate protection.
In another interview with NAN, Mr William Emoni, a lawyer, agreed that whistleblowers were the panacea to a corruption-free society.
Emoni, however, noted that the only way one could confidently whistle-blow was when the person was assured of maximum protection from victimisation.
“Whistleblowing is very important because a whistleblower is usually an insider who can give the police and security agencies information.
“This helps to the extent that people who are criminal minded can be fished out and punished and the informant needs to be protected,”
Emoni also cautioned that the whistleblower must, however, be discreet in the way and manner he gave out information and to whom.`
He stressed that the whistleblowers themselves owe a responsibility to themselves to be discreet, saying`”you don’t give information and begin to tell people that this is what I have done in order not to put yourself in trouble”.
Mr Samuel Ebitoye, another lawyer, noted that in the current administration’s onerous task of tackling corruption, whistleblowing would be a very needful tool in curtailing corruption in government and private organisations
.“A lot has gone wrong with the Nigerian system of governance and there are people in high positions that are involved in corruption cases that need to be exposed,’’ Ebitoye said.
Ebitoye, like the others, stressed the need for the whistleblower to be protected from oppression
“`There must be protection and security for the whistleblower. We need a robust statutory framework that is able to provide protection in the event that a whistleblower’s identity is exposed.
“The absence of this framework puts us back where we are, with no information to get back all the stolen funds, ” he said.
Mr Gaius Obah, also a lawyer, corroborated that Nigerian legal system needed whistleblowers, but that without adequate protection, no one would stick their necks out to whistle-blow. (NAN)
WS/MA/OFN