The Federal Executive Council on Wednesday approved a whistleblowing
\npolicy to check fraud in both public and private sectors.<\/p>\n
Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun disclosed this to State House reporters
\nafter the FEC meeting chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari.<\/p>\n
She said the policy, devised by her ministry, is to encourage anyone with
\ninformation about a violation, misconduct or improper activity that
\nimpacts negatively on Nigerians and government to report it.<\/p>\n
She said the policy was aimed at increasing exposure of financial or
\nfinancial related crimes; supporting the fight against financial crimes
\nand corruption; improving level of public confidence in public entities;
\nenhancing transparency and accountability in the management of public
\nfunds; improving Nigeria\u2019s Open Government Ranking and Ease of Doing
\nBusiness Indicators; and recovering public funds that can be deployed to
\nfinance Nigeria\u2019s infrastructure deficit.<\/p>\n
According to her, information that can be submitted include: mismanagement
\nor misappropriation of public funds and assets (e.g. properties and
\nvehicles); financial malpractice or fraud; collecting\/ soliciting bribes;
\ncorruption; diversion of revenues; fraudulent and unapproved payments;
\nsplitting of contracts; procurement fraud (kickbacks and over-invoicing
\netc.)<\/p>\n
She said a whistle-blower is any person who voluntarily discloses
\ninformation in good faith about a possible misconduct or violation that
\nhas occurred, is ongoing, or is about to occur.
\nThe minister, who noted that there was a secure online portal where
\ninformation could be submitted, said: “If you have already submitted your
\ninformation, you can also check the status of your report on the portal.”<\/p>\n
Noting that the policy does not apply to personal matters concerning
\nprivate contracts or agreements, she said whistleblowers could submit
\ntheir information through the online portal by e-mail or by phone.<\/p>\n
On whether a whistleblower is entitled to a financial reward, she
\nresponded: “It depends. If there is a voluntary return of stolen or
\nconcealed public funds or assets on the account of the information
\nprovided, the whistleblower may be entitled to anywhere between 2.5%
\n(minimum) and 5.0% (maximum) of the total amount recovered.<\/p>\n
“You must have provided the government with information it does not
\nalready have and could not otherwise obtain from any other publicly
\navailable source to the Government.”<\/p>\n
Asked if there is protection from false or malicious claims, she said:
\n“Yes. A first level review will always be carried out to determine
\ncredibility and sufficiency of information received. If you report false
\nor misleading information, it will be referred to the enforcement agents
\nfor investigation and possible prosecution.”<\/p>\n
Read more at
\nhttp:\/\/www.dailytrust.com.ng\/news\/general\/fec-okays-5-of-recovered-loot-for-whistleblowers\/177108.html#3SPfUiWfsluwPmfH.99<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Federal Executive Council on Wednesday approved a whistleblowing policy to check fraud in both public and private sectors. Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun disclosed this to State House reporters after…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51424,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n