Senate reintroduces whistleblower bill, passes first reading

The senate has reintroduced a bill seeking to protect whistleblowers after a number of failed attempts.

The bill, sponsored by Opeyemi Bamidele, the senate majority leader, passed its first reading on Tuesday.

The eighth senate under the leadership of Bukola Saraki passed the whistleblower and another legislation for witness protection.

The legislation sought to protect whistleblowers against victimisation and loss of jobs.

However, the whistleblower bill got stuck during the second reading in the house of representatives and did not make it through to a third reading by the time the ninth assembly wound down.

Under the senate led by Ahmad Lawan, the whistleblower and witness bills were consolidated and reintroduced as one single legislation.

But the sponsor of the bill, Benjamin Uwajumogu, senator representing Imo north at the time, died a month after he reintroduced it in 2019.

After his demise, there was no further legislative action on the bill.

In December 2022, the federal executive council (FEC) approved a new whistleblowing bill to be sent to the national assembly for consideration and subsequent passage.

That could not also be passed as the country went into the 2023 electioneering period and subsequently reached the end of the Lawan-led national assembly.