The need for statutory protection for whistle-blowers in Nigeria
Abstract
Whistleblowers are sentinels of society and of good governance. They are
employees who risk their professions and even their lives in the interests of public
safety and community well-being. Most countries, especially the developed
societies, have formal legal mechanisms that seek to guarantee protection of
whistleblowers and to encourage active participation by citizens in the
government’s anti-corruption efforts through the disclosure corruption in both the
public and private sectors. However, since independence in 1960, Nigeria has been
fighting corruption without a comprehensive and dedicated statute that protects
whistleblowers, which sets the country’s anti-corruption drive at odds with
international best practices. It is against this backdrop that this paper interrogates
Nigeria’s position regarding the enactment of whistleblower protection legislation
under the current democratic dispensation.