N/Assembly urged to pass Whistleblower Bill

The Whistleblowing Advocacy Coalition Wednesday urged the National Assembly to pass the Whistleblower Bill.

The call was made in a statement by Coordinator, African Centre for Media and Information Literacy, Chido Onumah and Executive Director, Progressive Impact Organisation for Community Development, Okhiria Agbonsuremi.

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The coalition said the passage of the bill was long overdue as it is critical to a successful fight against corruption in Nigeria.

It stated: “With the announcement of the whistleblowing policy in 2016, it was taken for granted that citizens who demonstrate the rare courage to blow the whistle by submitting productive reports of corrupt practices to appropriate quarters would enjoy full protection, but the reverse has since been the case.

“In the absence of a robust legal framework that ensures effective protection for citizens who respond to the call to report crime, the regime of impunity manifested in routine arbitrary punishment of workers has taken firm root in the public sector.

“All kinds of reprisals ranging from threats and intimidation, suspension, withholding of salary, denial of promotion, outright dismissal and much more are continually being inflicted on whistleblowers in the public service.”