The Federal Government has said Nigerians are still reluctant to report incidences of corruption, challenging them to be ready to pay the supreme price for the development of the nation.
Executive Secretary, Presidential Advisory Committee on Anti-Corruption, Sadiq Raddah, stated this in Abuja on Wednesday, at the public presentation of the report of a survey on five years of whistle-blowing policy in Nigeria carried out by the African Centre for Media and Information Literacy.
He challenged anti-corruption advocates in the country to beam their focus on humanitarian interventions, saying there was seeming malfeasance in the distribution of relief materials to Internally Displaced Persons.
Raddah said, “Since the idea of whistleblowing began, we have realised some problems by people who want to blow the whistle.
“Yes, it is good to be afraid but if you become captive of fear and you want to be righteous, you end up being a captive without delivering.
”I have always said we must be willing to pay the price for doing what is good, including losing our lives.
“I have said several times that nobody wants to die but it is not bad to die while trying to pursue what is good. So people who want to blow the party history across the country, please try not to be afraid but indeed don’t be careless.”
The PACAC executive secretary said the whistleblowing policy should also extend to assets declaration.
Speaking at the event, the Coordinator, AFRICMIL, Chido Onumah, explained that the Corruption Anonymous project initiated by his organisation was meant to mobilise Nigerians to key into the whistleblowing policy which was unveiled in 2016.
He said, “Apart from the survey, AFRICMIL is also using this occasion to introduce a safe and secure whistleblowing platform which was put together with the collaboration of the Yar’Adua Foundation. When it launched, the platform will offer citizens an avenue to report corrupt practices anonymously.”
The survey found that many Nigerians doubted the effectiveness of the whistleblowing policy in country.
Copyright PUNCH.
