Corruption And Whistle Blowing Policy In Nigeria: Gains And Challenges

Abstract

One of the global best practices of anti-corruption and fraud is the whistle blowing adopted by different organization in an attempt to report anonymously wrongdoing in any organization or place of work to the appropriate authority for necessary aversion. Whistle blowing is an anticorruption policy in Nigeria which was launched in December, 2016 by the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). With this policy 2.5%- 5% incentives of the recovered fund will be given to the whistle blower. The policy encourages voluntary reporting of fraud, bribery, looted government funds, financial misconduct, government asset and any other forms or means of corruption to the government. The main thrust of this paper is to examine the gains and the challenges of the policy in fighting corruption in Nigeria. The study heavily relies on secondary sources of data from library and the internet. Further to this, social exchange theory was used as a theoretical frame of reference to link voluntary reporting of corruption with the reward attached to it. The paper recommended that the policy should be given legal backing to protect the whistle blower and Government should keep to their promises of given incentives to the blower for successful fighting corruption in Nigeria and beyond.