Whistle Blowing Policy and Fight against Corruption in Nigerian Administrative System

Background: Beginning the federal to the state and local level of governments, there has been a phenomenal increase in the incidence of corruption and bad governance, which has consistently threatened political stability in the country. Corruption has eaten deep into the nation’s political system and this portrays Nigeria in a negative way towards other nations of the world. This reality of corruption has hindered steady economic growth and development, while insecurity is heightened because of corruption. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether whistle blowing policy is playing any role in the fight against corruption. Methods: The Key Informant Interview (KII) was used to interview some selected high profile and top ranking staff of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and Federal Ministry of Finance (FMF). The data used in this study was analyzed and interpreted with major findings using the Nvivo Software. Results: Whistle blowing policy has been instrumental in fighting against corruption and other unlawful conduct in both the public and private arena as it encourages a culture of transparency and openness. The identified roles of whistle blowing policy spans across checks and balances, crime exposure, crime reduction, crime reporting, fund recovery, fund retrieval and persecution, image maintenance, image redemption, increased crime fight, increased governance and accountability, increased public awareness, information retrieval, new direction, rapid growth and support, and reduction of money laundering. Whistle blowing policy has encountered serious challenges. One of the prominent challenges is the absence of a special court to adjudicate suspected offenders given that it has been observed that the conventional courts in Nigeria has a very slow pace of trial with very few convictions. To improve whistle blowing policy, what should be done is to fight against the challenges that the whistle blowing policy is facing in fighting corruption. To achieve that, the whistle blower has to be protected and also ascertain that the information received from a whistle blower is accurate and valid. Conclusion: The research concluded that whistle blowing policy plays a substantial role in fighting against corruption, whistle blowing policy encounters challenges and whistle blowing policy needs improvement.