Niger Delta ministry: Buhari urged to protect Perm Sec, whistle-blowers

President Muhammadu Buhari must intervene to protect the Ministry of Niger Delta Permanent Secretary, Mrs. Fatima Bamidele and other whistleblowers if he wants sustained support of Nigerians in his anti-corruption war, a coalition of pro-democracy and human rights activists said on Tuesday in Abuja.

A jointly signed statement by foremost civil society organizations (CSOs) said Mrs. Bamidele’s life is being threatened for exposing a N803, 000,000 million fraud by staff of the ministry leading to the Economic and Financial Crimes commission (EFCC) arresting top officials there.

The statement was signed by the leaders of the CSOs including Executive Director Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC)/Transparency International (TI) Nigeria Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, Co-Convener Say No Campaign (CNC) Ezenwa Nwagwu, Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) Y.Z. Ya’u, Zero Corruption Coalition (ZCC) Lukman Adekunle, Protest to Power (P2P) Jaye Gaskia, African Union State of the Union (SOTU) Anya Okeke, Resource Centre for Human Rights and Civic Education (CHRICED)/Transition Monitoring Group (TMG) Ibrahim M. Zikirullahi, and the Director of Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) Idayat Hassan.

Others are Environmental Rights Action (ERA) Akinbode Olufemi, West Africa Civil Society Forum (WACSOF) and Nigeria National Platform Salaudeen Hashim, National Procurement Watch Platform (NPWP) Kolawole Banwo, Tax Justice Chinedu Bassey, Action Aid Nigeria Ojobo Atuluku, Community Action for Popular Participation (CAPP) Kyauta Giwa, Accountability for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health in Nigeria (AMHiN) Dr. Aminu Magashi, Procurement Observation and Advocacy Initiative Mohammed B Attah and Advocacy Nigeria Hajiya Bilkisu Yusuf.

“We observed that the ongoing effort by the present administration at combating corruption in all ramifications may not yield the desired result, unless adequate protection is accorded whistleblowers. Reporting misconduct has caused some employees to be victimized by their employers and fellow employees, thus employees do not feel protected enough to come forward with information on misconducts and corrupt practices. We believe that passage of Whistle Blower Protection Bill in the eighth National Assembly remains one of the tools that can be used to fight against corruption,” the statement said.