The Nation Newspaper

Tag: AFRICMIL

  • AFRICMIL trains journalists to protect whistleblowers

    AFRICMIL trains journalists to protect whistleblowers

    The African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL), a Non-Governmental Organisation engaged no fewer than 25 journalists to instill in them the need to consistently promote the culture of protecting themselves and the whistleblowers who face serious attacks for reporting corruption and other wrongdoings. The workshop was held in Asaba, with the theme The Role of Journalists in Promoting Whistleblowing and Whistleblower Protection in Nigeria.

    Speaking at the workshop, which was jointly organized by AFRICMIL and Progressive Impact Organisation for Community Development (PRIMORG) and Supported by MacArthur Foundation, Dr Chido Onumah, Coordinator, AFRICMIL, said that the workshop was aimed at building a new vision of media and information literacy that provides citizens with the skills required for effective social engagement.

    He said: “We believe that by the nature of what they do, both journalists and whistleblowers cannot be separated, as they are assigned to holding power to account by bringing up the facts.

    According to him, AFRICMIL is offering opportunities for increased positive participation in media and information and communication technology.”

    Onumah, represented by Mr Crispin Oduobuk, Senior Programme Officer Policy and Advocacy, AFRICMIL, said that AFRICMIL had built strategic alliance across  sectors since 2017 under a project called “ Corruption Anonymous (CORA).

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    “We have been working with Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit (PICA), a unit in the Federal Ministry of Finance and other relevant stakeholders in government, Civil Society and media to promote the whistleblowing policy.

    “This policy was introduced by Federal Government in December 2016. And we started by creating awareness and sensitising the public the importance of whistleblowing as a tool for fighting corruption and checking other forms of wrongdoing in society.

    He said AFRICMIL was working to institutionalise whistleblowing as a mechanism to achieve transparency, accountability and proper democratic governance in Nigeria and across other ECOWAS member states.

    Mr. Austin Agbonsuremi, Executive Director, PRIMORG, while presenting a paper on The Role of Journalists in Promoting Whistleblowing and Whistleblowers Protection, said that the safest and fastest ways to check corruption was for journalists to partner whistleblowers.

  • Lawyers, AFRICMIL seek legal backing to protect whistleblowers

    Lawyers, AFRICMIL seek legal backing to protect whistleblowers

    Legal practitioners advocating for good governance and a corruption-free society in Nigeria and African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL), have called for an effective whistleblower law to protect citizens who volunteer information on corrupt activities and other wrongdoings in the country.

    The stakeholders made the call during a one-day workshop for lawyers with bias for public interest litigation by AFRICMIL in collaboration with Progressive Impact Organisation for Community Development (PRIMORG) in Enugu.

    The workshop, which was in continuation of AFRICMIL’s advocacy to popularise whistleblowing as an anti-cirruption mechanism and ensure effective whistleblower protection, had as its theme: “The Role of Lawyers in Promoting Whistleblowing and Whistleblower Protection in Nigeria.”

    The participants lamented the absence of legislation to protect the whistleblower, about eight years after the whistleblowing policy was introduced by the Federal Government.

    They stated that the lack of legislation to protect individuals ready to offer information on abnormalities in the system was affecting the policy.

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    One of the lawyers, Uche Nwokocha of the National Human Rights Commission who spoke on the topic, “Whistleblowing as a tool for fighting corruption and the role of citizens”, stressed that whistle-blowing was relevant in every sphere of

    human endeavour and was capable of turning things around for the country if properly handled.

    She lamented that despite the breakthroughs various governments had made in checking corrupt practices through the policy, inability to protect informants was discouraging people from volunteering information.

    “We cannot overlook the importance of this policy in ensuring the workability of the system and helping in the enthronement of good governance,” she stated.

    She pointed out that the policy in other climes had proven to be a potent weapon effectively deployed to check crimes and corruption in the system and urged the Federal Government to find ways of making the policy serve the best interest of the country.

    President of the Civil Rights

    Advancement Advocacy Network

    (CRRAN), Olu Omotayo, emphasised the need for lawyers to use available legal provisions such as the Freedom of Information (FOI) Law to promote whistleblowing and protect whistleblowers, stressing that the policy had so far yielded positive results.

    He stated that lawyers should leverage the policy to support the government in the fight against corruption and other abnormalities in the system.

    The coordinator of AFRICMIL, Dr Chido Onumah, stated that the workshop was designed to enhance the lawyers’ knowledge and understanding of the Nigerian whistleblowing policy which the Nigerian government introduced in December 2016 as a deliberate effort to check corruption and wrongdoing in the country.

    According to him, the workshop was a step towards cultivating a team of lawyers who will offer their professional skills in the quest for the enactment of a long overdue whistleblower protection law in the country.

    He said the workshop would enrich the participants’ understanding of the whistleblowing ecosystem and its general principles and best practices, in addition to exposing them to the nature and scope of the draft whistleblower protection bill approved by the Federal Executive Council which has yet to be passed into law.