Adeosun: Whistle-blowing policy has made every Nigerian a detective

Kemi Adeosun, minister of finance, says her ministry’s whistle-blowing policy, as adopted by the federal government, has made every Nigerian a detective.

“Of course we all know about the whistle bower policy, which has helped to make every Nigerian a detective and every patriotic Nigeria, who knows something, as they say; to see something, say something,” she said at a town hall meeting in Abuja on Tuesday.

The minister said the loot recovered via the policy and other anti-corruption process was not enough to fund the nation’s budget.

“The recovered funds so far are not enough to fund the projects we have. Of course, we are still going to continue to pursue those who looted funds and recover as much as possible,” Adeosun said.

“What borrowing does for us in the short term is to give us flexibility because if we recover a lot, we can always pay back. But if we have to rely on recovered funds, and of course, it takes a long time to recover some of this money.

“I will remind you that some of the Abacha loot has been with the Swiss for 20 years and we still don’t have it back. So, some of these stolen monies, when you try to get it back, we go to court, so we cannot afford to rely on recovered monies to fund our budget.”

Speaking about the whistle-blowing policy and the treasury single account (TSA) as tools for fighting corruption, the minister revealed that some whistle blowers are not requesting reward.

“We have over 2,500 tips from various quarters. Not just the big money that you all see in the papers, but a lot of these small monies,” she said.

“Somebody diverting the petty cash for the university, we were able to get in there and stop him. The fight against corruption is now the people’s fight.

“And not all the whistle blowers are actually looking for reward. Some are just patriotic citizens who tell us this is what is going on in a particular institution, and they are not asking any reward, they are just sharing information.

“We thank everybody who has helped the government. This is a national fight against corruption.”