NGOs seek whistleblower law to protect women, PWDs

By Deborah Akpede

LAGOS - Some Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) have called on the Federal Government to enact a whistleblower protection law to protect women and People With Disabilities (PWDs) who expose corruption and other wrongdoings in the interest of the public.

They made the call at a workshop with the theme: “The importance of women and people with disabilities in promoting whistleblowing and whistleblower protection”, on Thursday in Lagos.

The workshop was organised by African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL) in conjunction with Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative journalism (WSCIJ) and supported by MacArthur Foundation.

The Coordinator of AFRICMIL, Dr Chido Onumah, in his address, described a whistleblower as any individual who provides the right information to the right people.

“Whistleblowing is one of the most effective methods of exposing corrupt acts and fostering accountability in the internal management of organisation.

“Over the years, we have been working with different stakeholders to promote the cultural acceptance of whistleblowing not only as a tool for fighting corruption, but also as mechanisms for achieving good governance in the country.

“We believe that gender and social inclusion is important in any society, but even more so in the fight against corruption and the quest for accountability. Without it, Nigeria will not succeed in the war against corruption.

“The workshop is designed to get women groups and PWDs involved in the fight against corruption by blowing the whistle on all kinds of illegalities that are against the interest of the public,” he said.

According to him, women and PWDs are the greatest victims of corrupt practices in the country.

“Women/PWDs are greatest victims, this is the time to reverse the trend, to encourage them to break the culture of silence by speaking out and reporting all illegalities to competent authorities.

“We demand protection of our compatriots who become victims of impunity and abuse of power only because they made disclosures against corrupt and other illegal practices that threaten society’s well-being,” Onumah said.

In the same vein, Mrs Juliana Francis, Deputy Editor, Eagle Online Newspaper, said that fighting corruption was everybody’s business.

“The fight against corruption and other illegal practices should be gender-bind, anyone can report or expose wrongdoings.

“The wrongdoing must be something one witnessed or know about, the person must have evidence to back that claim to avoid a wild goose chase.

“Women/PWDs are part of the largest society, they are entitled to the same service and they need to scatter that lens, become more assertive and report illegally.

“If you do not reflag, it will affect you tomorrow because society is a glass house,” she said.

Francis, a gender advocate, said that whistleblowing promotes effective and efficient government, saves public fund, protects health institution and creates better accountability.

According to her, shame, stigma, culture, fear of retaliation, social judgment, loss of job, feeling no action will be taken, victimisation, religion, character assassination among others hinder women/PWDs from whistleblowing.

She said that the reporting channel to law enforcement agencies and anti- corruption agencies should be accessible.

She urged the government to make deliberate efforts to protect women/PWDs through the passage of the bill.

“If the bill is passed, it will check abuse against women/PWDs, corrupt practices, bullying, give a sense of safety, promote reform in different sectors and lead to increase in woman/PWDs involvement in whistleblowing,” she said.

Similary, Mr Edetaen Ojo, Executive Director, Media Rights Agenda, said whistleblowing involved exposing illegal activities not only in government but also in non government organisations.

“Such illegal activities may include corruption, bribing, fraud, discrimination, abuse of power,” he said.

According to him, some whistleblowers

suffer physical harm and some have been killed after exposing criminal acts.

“PWDs face additional barrier and discrimination because they are vulnerable,” he said.

Ojo said that it was professionally suicidal for a journalist to disclose sources of information.

“The core element of professional code of ethics for journalism is protection of confidential source of information,” he said.

He urged the media to promote social justice, public accountability and human rights in government, private companies, religious places and other sectors.

Also, Mr Samson Ademola, Programme Officer of WSCIJ, said that most investigations the centre carried out was as a result of whistleblowers.

“Most investigation which become our work does not happen except there is a whistleblowing instigating it.

“There is usually an aggrieved person who will raise the alarm, pointing out the infringement of the law,” he said.

According to him, the centre has contributed to women inclusion in leadership role.

“Before, women are underrepresented in leadership but with our advocacy, we now have more women in leadership,” Ademola said.

Source: NAN