TheCable

The African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL) has trained some selected journalists on whistleblowing and whistleblower protection.

AFRICMIL is a non-governmental organisation that focuses on media, information, research, advocacy and training.

Speaking during a media workshop in Lagos, on Thursday, Chido Onumah, AFRICMIL’s coordinator, said whistleblowing remains a strong tool for fighting corruption and other forms of wrongdoing in the society.

Onumah stated that journalists are whistleblowers who entrench the culture of speaking up against wrongdoing and standing up for anyone facing reprisals for doing so.

“Since 2017, AFRICMIL has been working on a project tagged Corruption Anonymous (CORA) which is supported by The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The project is designed to build public confidence and support for the whistleblowing policy of the government of Nigeria,” Onumah said.

“We began by engaging this project on three major planks which include creating awareness and sensitizing the public to the importance of whistleblowing as a tool for fighting corruption and checking other forms of wrongdoing in the society, advocating honest implementation of the policy, and ensuring effective protection for people who are courageous enough to blow the whistle.

“In a bid to ensure a successful implementation of the CORA project, AFRICMIL has built strategic alliances with relevant stakeholders like the Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit (PICA), a unit in the federal ministry of finance, budget and national planning, that is charged with the responsibility of managing the whistleblowing policy, anti-corruption agencies, civil society organisations, a coalition of public interest lawyers and, of course, the media.”

Kola Ogunbiyi, programme manager at AFRICMIL, stated that the long-term goal is to get whistleblowing institutionalised in both public and private sectors for a better and orderly society.

The facilitators at the workshop were Lanre Arogundade, executive director of the International Press Centre (IPC); Edetaen Ojo, executive director of Media Rights Agenda (MRA); and Ridwan Sulaimon, programme manager, Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA) Resource Centre.