By Dayo Omoogun
In an appraisal of the performance of the whistle- blowing policy of the Muhammadu Buhari administration since its introduction, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance,
Budget and National Planning,Dr.Muhammed. K. Dikwa has disclosed that over half a trillion naira has so far been saved through the policy.
At a workshop themed “Implementation of the whistle blower policy in Nigeria, Issues, Challenges and Way forward” held Thursday in Abuja, Dr. Dikwa announced that the nation has saved N594.089 billion since its inception in 2016.
Noting that the policy was introduced to curb corruption, financial crimes and wastages, he disclosed that the policy had been quite effective in taming such malpractices as, ” violation of the Treasury Single Account (TSA), ghost workers syndrome, staff collecting double salaries in more than one organization, retirees without proper records but still collecting salaries, recoveries of salaries from retired diplomats for almost two years to the tune of N192m, non remittances by MDAs, amongst other crimes, adding that, the policy has drastically reduced corruption in both civil and criminal cases. “
He listed the challenges facing the implementation of the policy as “lack of proper legal framework, poor funding, lack of coordination and diverse information among relevant organisations, not following proper channel to give information, adding that, sometimes information given were fake”.
On the way forward, the Permanent Secretary who believes that the policy has come to stay, enjoined the workshop participants to critically review the draft “Whistle Blowing and Protection 2019 Bill”, make inputs that will align with international best practices preparatory to submission to the National Assembly for passage into law. This will go a long way towards legalizing and institutionalising the policy.
While stressing the need to legalize and institutionalize the policy, the Chairman of the Whistle blowing draft bill Committee Mrs. Peculiar Ohabor, a Deputy Director in the Federal Ministry of Justice, in her presentation explained that the draft bill which has 18 bits and 107 sections sprang up as a result of societies evolving, adding that countries like Canada, Senegal, United Kingdom, USA, and European Union have already accepted it.
The meeting had in attendance, Permanent Secretary (Special Duties) Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Dr. M.K.Dikwa, mni, top Management staff, Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Federal Ministry of Justice, representatives from Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) , National Financial Intelligent Unit (NFIU),DSS, members of Civil Society, and members of the Press.