THE Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved the draft Whistleblower Bill, 2022 to strengthen its anti-corruption fight and protect citizens helping in the fight.
Finance, Budget and National Planning Minister Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, who dropped the hint yesterday, said the Council gave the approval with a condition that the new bill must conform to the Evidence Act.
Addressing State House reporters after the week’s Council meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, the minister explained that the law-in-the-making was considered necessary because government had discovered that the whistleblower policy had started losing steam because potential whistleblowers are gradually reclining as a result of fear of exposure to danger.
She minister described the Whistleblower Bill as one of the memoranda presented to the Council by her ministry, including the request for approval for the Finance Bill 2022.
Mrs. Ahmed said: “The Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning presented a number of memos today. The first one I’d like to present to you is the memo we presented on the draft Whistleblower Bill for 2022. This memo has been reviewed by Council and approved with a provision to ensure alignment with the Evidence Act.
“The purpose of operationalising and putting in place the bill is to strengthen the fight against corruption, to also enable protection for whistleblowers that provide information for use by government.
“As you know, since 2016, the Council had approved the setting up of the Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit (PICA). PICA has been working in partnership with EFCC, ICPC, DSS, NFIU, as well as of the office of the Honourable Attorney-General of the Federation. We noticed that the whistleblower policy response has lost momentum and we embarked on engagement in the six geopolitical zones.
“One of the main outcomes that we found is that people are concerned about their safety as a result of providing information. So this bill is critical to ensure the effectiveness of the intention of the whistleblower policy.”
Speaking on the other approvals granted her ministry by Council, Ahmed said in pursuant of President Buhari’s information to the National Assembly to put a Finance Bill 2022 together, in order to aid the effective performance of the 2023 Budget, the bill was approved at the meeting.
“If you recall at the public presentation of the budget to the National Assembly, by His Excellency Mr. President, the President had committed to the parliament that a 2022 Finance bill will be submitted to the parliament by the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning to support the implementation of the 2023 Budget.
“So, we have been working on this bill and have done a lot of consultations. The bill we presented before Council today has five focus areas including tax equity reforms, climate change and green growth provisions, job creation and economic growth reforms, reforming tax incentives as well as generating revenue enhancing tax administration.
“This Finance Bill is amending a number of fiscal laws, including the Capital Gains Tax, Company Income Tax, Customs Excise Tariff Act, Federal Inland Revenue Service Act, Personal Income Tax, Stamp Duties Act, Tertiary Education Tax, VAT Act, Insurance Act, Nigerian Police Trust Fund Act, as well as the National Agency for Engineering Act (NASENI), Finance Control Management Act, as well as the Fiscal Responsibility Act.
“So, with this approval from Council, His Excellency, Mr. President, will be conveying to the National Assembly, a request for the consideration of this bill”, she said.