AFRIMIL: Anti-graft war must not be left for government alone

African Centre for Media & Information Literacy (AFRICMIL), a civil society organisation, has held a town hall meeting on whistle blowing and the fight against corruption in Nigeria.

At the event attended by members of civil society groups, media and anti-corruption agencies, on Tuesday in Lagos,  participants were introduced to corruption anonymous (CORA), a project of the organisation that seeks to build public confidence and support for the whistle blower initiative.

According to Chido Onumah, coordinator of the organisation, CORA was launched to create awareness about whistleblowing and make Nigerians see the need to adopt whistleblowing as a tool for reducing corruption in the country.

Onumah said Nigerians ought to realise that the fight against corruption is theirs, not the government alone.

“As you may be aware, the Nigerian government in December 2016, announced a whistleblowing policy which offers financial incentives for citizens who blow the whistle that leads to the recovery of looted public funds,” he said.

“Specifically, corruption anonymous seeks to create awareness about the government’s whistleblowing policy, build public confidence and support for the policy, advocate for protection of whistle-blowers as well as promote the institutionalisation of the policy.

“AFRICMIL has been engaging the whistleblowing process in the last one year and has intervened on behalf of whistle blowers who were victimised by their employers.”

He also spoke on the steps his organisation has been taking to make whistleblowing acceptable to Nigerians.

“To achieve its goal of popularising whistleblowing and making Nigerians see the need to adopt it as a strategic tool for reducing corruption, AFRICMIL has lined up a series of activities some of which include creating awareness through media and civil society engagements, stakeholders’ forum and periodic training for agencies of government, as well as a series of focused public education in cities across the six geo-political zones of the country,” he said.

“Our goal is to have a citizenry that is sensitive of its role in tackling the menace of corruption. As Nigerians, we have to be aware that the fight against corruption is not one to be left for the government alone. We all have roles to play, and this is what the whistleblowing policy seeks to ensure.”