By; VITALIS UGOH, Calabar
The Nigerian Institute of Management (Chartered), NIM, has called on the Federal government to enact a law that would guarantee the five per cent trust as well as restore confidence of whistleblowers.
The law, when established, will go a long way to protect and encourage more whistleblowers to join in the fight against corruption.
The call was made by the Cross River state chairman, Mr.Evong Evong in an interview with the New Nigerian Online, shortly after the inauguration of the Cross River state executive
According to him, “it was high time the Federal government took the policy to the next level by making it a law”.
He said: “this will boost the confidence of those who want to come out with accurate and useful information to help in the fight against corruption and stem all forms of graft in every sphere of our system”.
Evong regretted that “the policy is gradually losing stem and something must be done to regain the trust and confidence of those who are still willing to come out as well as encourage those who have lost confidence due to the “Ikoyigate”saga”.
In answer to another question, he said, “when the policy becomes law, people will be prepared to give their unalloyed support to the noble cause which has in no small way advanced the fight against corruption which is part of this administration’s agenda”.
Said he, “if the President can make this happen it would create a lot of good will especially as he plans to contest again and this will serve as a plus to this administration because it would be on record that they actually marched their words with action”.
According to him”if we will not have the saga like the case of whistblower in the IKOYIGATE come up again because the policy which will now be backed up by law becomes more credible and whist blowers will be paid their 5% without any hassle”.
By this development, it will indeed make more people to come out with more facts and this is the right step in the proper direction of really fighting corruption in this country.
He said as a result of what happened during that period, a lot of people lost confidence in the system that they became afraid they might not be paid their 5% and the way it is going it seems the policy is losing focus which is why we are calling on the federal government to as a matter of urgency back it up by law.
He added that the principles the body l“remains professionalism and integrity, transparency and we believe in prudent management of funds, so if the Federal government has a policy to encourage more whistle-blowers they should make it a law.
