The African Centre for Media & Information Literacy (AFRICMIL) has explained
why it launched a civil society whistle blower project named Corruption Anonymous, reports
ITRealms.
According to
the Coordinator, African Centre for Media & Information Literacy,
Chido Onumah, ‘Corruption
Anonymous’ aims at create
public confidence and acceptance of the new Whistle Blower Initiative of the
Nigerian government.
The project,
he also said, seeks to use citizens to win the war against corruption and
enhance accountability in public office by providing a mechanism for anonymous
reporting that is acceptable, credible and effective.
“Considering the endemic nature of corruption in Nigeria and the cost
and challenge of prosecuting corruption, it is important to support any
initiative that has the potential to prevent and, therefore, reduce
corruption,” Onumah said, stressing that winning the war on corruption requires
urgent holistic attention and a creative response that is both civil society
oriented and sustainable.
He noted that because of Nigeria’s weak institutions and how systemic
corruption is in virtually all areas of public and corporate Nigeria, it will
take more than government intervention to sustain the war on corruption.
“Given the opportunity, citizens can do something about
corruption,” he said.
The overall goal of Corruption
Anonymous, he said, is to strengthen the capacity of citizens and
civil society to contribute to the success of the anti-corruption war by keying
into the new whistle blower initiative, increasing patronage and support
for the initiative as well as creating confidence in the system that the
information citizens volunteer is not only used but that whistle blowers are
protected.
Further, he
said, Corruption Anonymous will bring together three
interrelated stakeholders in the fight against corruption, namely:
anticorruption agencies, the media and civil society to produce a synergy that
would make the whistle blower policy sustainable.
“The recent successes of the war
against corruption in the country, including recovery of large sums of money
linked to the efforts of whistle blowers show that people are willing to report
corruption if the conditions are right,” he said.
The AFRICMIL coordinator, pointed out the need for a whistle
blower legislation so that they are not left at the mercy of offenders, just as
the project will support advocacy for the passage of the Whistle Blower
(Protection) bill.
Uboshe Uboshe/GEE
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