The Federal Government has said the recently introduced whistle-blowing policy by President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration has led to the recovery of about N9 billion. The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, who made the disclosure, said the money recovered from the whistleblowing policy was in the region of N7.8 billion, $378 million and £27, 800.
The amount according to her was for the matters that the Federal Government has concluded every litigation surrounding them and commissions that accrued to those behind the information.
According to her “I gave an update on whistle blowing policy which was another memorandum approved by FEC – the number of tips we have had, the number of investigations we have dealt with, the types of monies that have been recovered through the whistleblower policy.
“I also reported that the whistleblower team has recently come back from a trip to the UK The United Kingdom government was giving us trainings on whistle blowing, how we should institutionalise it. The team spent some time with revenue office in UK. They spent some time in Customs office and they took them through what they have been able to do.
“I will be bringing the memo to the council. One of the things it has achieved is prevention. When they get the tips, they use it to block avenues for leakage. We have had a significant number tips. So, we will be coming back to institutionalise whistleblowing as a structure. It has become central part of fighting corruption, giving us valuable information. Basically, whistleblowing is here to stay, giving us useful information.
“I gave an update on DMO and our debt structure. FEC approved a three-year debt strategy to reduce our reliance on short time borrowing, particularly treasury bills, 91 days treasury bills, costing us 21 per cent and moving from domestic borrowing into external borrowing.
“When we came in, what was owed was 84 per cent domestic and 16 per cent external borrowing. We have moved to 77:23 as a result of Eurobonds that we have done and refinancing of maturing obligations.
