The Federal Government said that as at July 2017, it received over 5,000 tips from whistleblowers over various infractions in the public service. Speaking at the Bureau of Public Service Reforms’, BPSR, seminar on ‘the whistleblower policy and its implication for public servants,’ Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, said that the government had also received 365 actionable, with more than half of them coming from public servants. Adeosun disclosed that overall, the volume of tips received had been greater and of higher quality than expected when the programme was first adopted.
She said, “We continue to receive information everyday with total communication reaching above 5,000 in July through our various reporting channels.” She noted that much of the success of the whistleblower policy had relied on the decision of the whistleblowers to do the right thing.
“Out of the 365 actionable tips we received, over half of them have come from public servants touching on issues such as contract inflation, ghost workers, illegal recruitments, misappropriation of funds, illegal sale of Government assets, diversion of revenues, and violation of TSA regulations, amongst others,” she explained.
Continuing, she said, “In reviewing the information we receive, we have noticed that certain type of tips are recurring, for example; 39 per cent, about 144 of the actionable tips relate to misappropriation and diversion of funds/revenue; 16 per cent, about 60, relate to ghost workers, illegal recruitments and embezzlement of funds meant for personnel emolument; 15 per cent, about 56, relate to violation of TSA regulation.
“Thirteen per cent, 49 tips, relate to contract inflation/violation of the procurement act and failure to carry out projects for which funds have been released and nine per cent, about 34 actionable tips, relate to non-remittance of pension & NHIS deductions. Others include concealed bail-out funds and embezzlement of funds from donor agencies.”
Despite the successes recorded so far, Adeosun said there is still a long way to go and more must be done, adding that part of the work of the Federal Government was to analyse trends and take corrective actions.
For example, she said many of the salary, tax and pension under remittance cases shared a common thread, stating that in several cases institutions found to have insufficient funds to meet there obligations often had illegal recruitments which bloated the wage bill, and the affected agencies responded by part paying or short paying salaries, whilst applying to FG for salary shortfall payments.
She added that the Federal Government was revising its procedures for approval of recruitment, which would improve its budgeting and control.
“Equally in many cases where revenue has been diverted to accounts outside the Treasury Single Account, TSA, we have reviewed our reconciliation and receipting processes. So the information being provided is useful in driving process improvements,” she declared. The Minister also declared that the protection of public sector whistleblowers from retaliation for reporting in good faith is integral to government’s effort to combat corruption, safeguard integrity, and enhance accountability.
According to her, the risk of corruption is significantly heightened where the reporting of wrongdoing is not supported or where those who report wrongdoing may be subject to retaliation, such as intimidation, harassment, transfer, dismissal or violence by their fellow colleagues or superiors. She insisted that the whistle blower policy had come to stay and that the Federal Government is formalizing the procedures for the Whistleblower Unit to be a full-fledged operation within the Ministry of Finance.
“We are intentionally integrating the team into the ministry to provide comfort to those with information by ensuring that the environment is not intimidating,” she declared.
