An Appraisal of Whistle Blowing Policy as A Strategy for Fighting Corruption in Nigeria, Under President Mohamadu Buhari’s Administration

Abstract

 Corruption has been a major challenge to development in Nigeria. Successive governments in Nigeria have instituted diverse policies, measures and structures to fight corrupt practices in public and private sectors. The Federal Government, under the leadership of President Mohamadu Buhari in December, 2006 introduced whistle blowing policy as a strategy for fighting corrupt practices. The introduction of the policy has generated debates, among scholars and policy analysts, on the efficacy of the policy. The objective of this paper is to appraise the implementation of the policy with a view to finding out its weakness and contributions to the fight against corrupt practices in the public sectors. The methodology of this work is qualitative and descriptive in approach. Relevant data were generated through documentary sources. The data were subjected to contextual-descriptive analysis. The findings show that whistle blowing policy has yielded some positive results in the fight against corruption in the public sector, in terms of recovery of looted funds and inciting fears of being exposed in the minds of potential treasury looters. Nevertheless, there are some shortcomings with the policy that need to be addressed by government. Thus, the paper, among other things, suggests that the whistle blowing policy be sustained and strengthened to guarantee adequate protection for whistle blowers and encourage grassroots participation in the fight against corruption