Whistleblowing: Ordeals of civil servants who risked their jobs to expose corruption
Asurvey published in 2021 shows that the majority of Nigerians perceive corruption as a major problem, but one-quarter of the respondents are unwilling to report any form of corruption.
The survey conducted and published by the African Centre for Media & Information Literacy (AFRICMIL) titled, “Survey on 5 years of whistleblowing policy in Nigeria” also showed that 3 out of 4 respondents have stopped reporting cases of looted funds due to fear of victimisation, believing that authorities do not provide a proper channel to make the report or take action against the suspect. Weak internal mechanisms
The belief that no action would be taken made a civil servant at the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing (FMWH), Richard Oghenerhoro Martins, look for external recourse. The whistleblowing policy launched in 2016 states that an internal stakeholder can “escalate the matter further” when the issue is not adequately addressed internally.
Martins has repeatedly complained about employment racketeering within the ministry to his superiors but was ignored.
He reported to the then Director of Human Resource Management Isang Iwara, and other superior officers; like the Deputy Director of Appointment Promotion & Discipline, Shehu Aliyu, Assistant Director Bosede Omoniyi, and others, as documents from his lawyers to the ministry show.
Martins briefed his lawyers to send a petition to the Minister of Works and Housing Babatunde Fashola in July 2020, which spurred the setting up of a committee led by a senior official of the ministry, Rufus-Ebegba Immaculata.
Martins said several colleagues intimidated and warned him to stop investigating the prevalence of fake employment in public service, but he was committed to seeing the end to the employment fraud.
The committee, which sat in August and September 2020, found Martins’ claims to have merit. They found cases of employment manipulation, violation of due process and fake employment documentation.
The committee recommended immediate discontinuation of salary payments to the officers with fake letters and their names were forwarded to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) for further investigation.
The ICPC is one of the investigating agencies of the whistleblower policy.
In a twist of fate, the panel also recommended disciplinary action against Martins, citing a breach of the oath of secrecy as contained in the Public Service Rules (PSR).
in Nigeria often find themselves alone
The report reads that disciplinary would be appreciative of citizens action against the petitioner, “Mr who are willing to expose Richard Oghenerhoro, over his irregularities and corruption in the misconduct, breach of oath of public interest,” the group said. secrecy, unauthorised disclosure of The shades of violations against official information and abstraction whistleblowers or copying of official documents Godwin Onyeacholem has been without approval as enshrined in at the forefront of advocating for the Public Service Rules 030301 the protection of whistleblowers in (f), 030415, 030416 and 030417 Nigeria. “It takes a lot of courage to respectively.” blow the whistle. You need to know
The director of press and public what whistleblowers go through,” relations, FMWH, Blessing LereAdams he said. “It’s traumatising.” told The ICIR that there Onyeacholem is the project is an internal mechanism to deal coordinator for Corruption with reports on corruption without Anonymous (CORA) an initiative having to involve the office of the of AFRICMIL working to build minister. public support and confidence
“Whoever has done that [use in the whistleblowing policy external mechanism] does not introduced by the Nigerian know the public service rule. government in 2016.
“The PSR specifically states if you CORA, set up in 2017, have a complaint there is a structure advocates effective protection you have to follow, so anybody for whistleblowers. This makes who goes above that should be Onyeacholem the ‘go-to guy’ questioned,” the spokesperson said. whistleblowers call when they face
When asked what happens when challenges. the internal structure is followed “Whistleblowing constricts their and no action is taken, Lere-Adams lives because of what they are going directed the enquiry to the deputy through,” he told The ICIR of his director Anti-Corruption and interaction with whistleblowers. Transparency Unit (ACTU), saying “Friends avoid you. You are he is in the best position to respond. alone.”
The head of ACTU, Sonny Accountant Joseph Akeju has Inyang, however, said he could not lived the experience. Before his speak to the press as he does not retirement, he was a lecturer have the clearance to do so, noting and bursar at Yaba College that he only deals with the ICPC of Technology, where he was on issues of whistleblowing and dismissed twice for blowing the corruption. Lere-Adams, therefore, whistle. advised that a letter should be “You know, it’s natural,” he said, sent to the ministry’s permanent recalling how family and friends secretary. The ICIR sent the letter blamed and abandoned him. which was duly acknowledged, but He is 70 now, when he spoke to there is no response as at press time. The ICIR.
The Coalition for Whistleblower “Some people were laughing at Protection and Press Freedom me; some people were calling me (CWPPF), described the action ‘Mr Clean’. They were mocking against Martins as “one among me. They said instead of me to join numerous cases of violations and them and make my own money. stigmatisation of whistleblowers”. Only a few people stood with me,”
“You would think that a he added in a restrained voice. government that lays so much Compromised by journalists emphasis on fighting corruption Akeju, judging from his
Image: The ICIR experience, said he would not advise anyone to blow the whistle. He also said journalists need to do better with regard to the confidentiality of sources.
“During my time, some of the journalists exposed me to ridicule. They will collect information from me and go and expose me to my boss and tell them I gave them the information,” he explained.
Some of the journalists, he said, collected money from his boss. This, he explained, greatly affected him as the school was able to plan to checkmate his moves.
A mass communication lecturer at the University of Nigeria Nsukka, Dr Gerver Verlumun Celestine, described the conduct of journalists who breach the confidentiality of sources as “unethical”.
He said such conduct has a farreaching effect on the source, the journalists, journalism and society.
“If anyone is harassed because he spoke to a journalist in confidence, such a person is likely not to reveal information to journalists again even when such information is needed, the person will be constrained.
“This will affect the development of the society, investigative journalism will be affected, and things that should have been done to help the society will be retarded,” Celestine said.
The national secretary for the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Shu’aibu Leman Usman, confirmed to The ICIR that the breach of confidentiality of sources “regrettably” happened.
“These things do happen, and they are issues of ethics. sometimes journalists don’t play according to the rules. We have instances where journalists disclosed their sources because they have been enticed with money”, he said. He added that journalists needed the cooperation of media owners to curb such occurrences. “Media owners have to stand by journalists and insist that they should not disclose their sources,” Usman said.
Compromised by security officials
Since the policy was not in effect in 2008 when Akeju reported irregularities in college funds that were not accounted for, there was no institutional process for whistleblowing. He had to rely heavily on the media to amplify his petition, but that was not the case for an architect Joseph Ameh, who blew the whistle three years after it was launched.
Ameh was head of the physical planning division at the Federal College of Education (Technical) Asaba, when in 2019, he wrote a petition to the ICPC over corrupt practices such as contract inflation and diversion in the institution.
The ICPC reached out to the school for more information and eventually began prosecution.
Ameh had expected some level of protection from the investigating agency.
“In my petition to the ICPC, I wrote my name clearly on it. ICPC was supposed to handle it with diligence, which they did not. They exposed me,” he said.
He had expected them to handle it with discreteness and protect his identity when reaching out to the school, but they didn’t, he told The ICIR. He received many queries after the ICPC sent a memo to the school requesting documents. That was the start of his travail, which led to the loss of his job, and the collapse of his family.
The whistleblowing policy states that “Its preferable individual puts his/her name and contact to any disclosure” but adds that the person’s identity shall be kept confidential to be disclosed only in the circumstances required by law.
That’s not the only way the ICPC impacted Ameh.
Ameh said, “When you blow the whistle, you have prepared food for the ICPC officials to eat”. By this, he means the ICPC personnel benefit directly by investigating suspects.
He insisted that ICPC officers are corrupt as they use the opportunity for self-aggrandisement.
The officers make money from the suspects in exchange for information, The ICIR gathered. The officers also sometimes give advance notice to suspects and employ delay tactics so that they can cover their tracks.
For instance, Ameh said the ICPC prosecutor on the case whom he called “Barrister Iwoba ‘’ visited the college and when he confronted her she told him she went to interview one of the suspects - the registrar.
This story is funded by The Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development under the Media Freedom Project through Justice for Journalists Foundation
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