By Godwin Onyeacholem
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), a tax and audit behemoth as well as one of the world’s leading accounting firms, has repeatedly demonstrated that it’s not shy of instigating positive action around issues of corruption, accountability and integrity in the Nigerian space.
For instance, not many are aware that PwC’s intriguing report on the impact of corruption on Nigeria’s economy, submitted a little over 10 years ago to a Buhari government that emphasized corruption as a central theme of its campaign, may have indeed catalyzed the introduction of the country’s whistleblowing policy in December 2016.
The policy is essentially an anti-corruption programme, strictly designed for ministries, departments agencies of government and its novelty lies in the fact that it signalled the first time any government in the country would invite citizens to join the fight against endemic corruption by submitting tips on the mishandling of public funds and assets to designated authorities.
In its early days, the whistleblowing policy generated enormous public interest with citizens hailing it as about the most creative and effective anti-corruption instrument, and public sector workers showed enthusiasm in reporting financial fraud and abuse of power in their workplace. But the volume of reporting has drastically reduced not because workers are not interested in submitting tips, but because the risk of reporting is greater than the reward.
Brave workers who engage in public interest whistleblowing have continually been inflicted with varying forms of vicious retaliation which includes suspension without pay, denial of career progression, punitive postings, outright dismissal, and in worse case instances, physical harassment and death threats to them or anyone associated with them. Rather sadly, these victims don’t enjoy any state protection, even though Section 12 of the Whistleblowing Policy specifies protection for citizens who suffer punishment for their whistleblowing activity.
In the absence of a comprehensive legal framework that offers a seamless coverage for accessible free expression rights to protect citizens against any harassment that could have a chilling effect, whistleblowing as an anti-corruption and good governance tool will not thrive. Citizens don’t have confidence in the way the Nigerian government is managing the policy.
The trust gap dogging the path of Nigeria’s whistleblowing administration was the subject of PwC’s notable first intervention in the 2025 world whistleblower day celebration, which was marked through a webinar featuring Dr Chido Onumah, then Coordinator of African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL), as keynote speaker. AFRICMIL is the leading nonprofit whistleblowing and whistleblower protection advocacy organization in Nigeria.
For that occasion, the organisers were spot-on with the framing of a clear, direct question of significant relevance to the issue at hand: How can Nigeria bridge the trust gap in the whistleblowing policy? Onumah provided a candid answer to that question, detailing the travails of whistleblowers in Nigeria and didn’t attempt to hide or soften the message the world should get regarding whistleblowing practice in Nigeria. And the summary of his opening address was that not only are individuals silenced by corruption; they are also fearful of inaction that follows reporting.
The 2026 PwC whistleblowing webinar held Tuesday June 23 in its Lagos office featured in-person participation of the panelists and was no less exciting. The theme of the webinar, ‘The Future of Whistleblowing in Nigeria: Legislation progress and reporting pathways,’ was apt for the moment. The subject was diligently dealt with by the keynote speaker, Rep. Akin Rotimi Jr, spokesman, Nigeria House of Representatives, who stressed the value of whistleblower protection and offered what mirrors a masterclass on the history and trajectory of whistleblowing bills in the federal legislature.
The event stirred with an interactive, high-energy participation from the audience which included policy makers and industry leaders, as well as riveting submissions from an astute panel comprising Tinuade Awe, CEO TMSN Ltd; Abigail Duopama-Obomanu, Chief Compliance Officer, Union Bank; Adeola Adekunle, Associate Director, Forensics Services, PwC Nigeria; Temidayo Taiwo-Sidiq, Senior Legislative Aide, Office of the House Spokesman; and Godwin Onyeacholem, Programme Manager, AFRICMIL.
The panelists shared perspectives on legislative developments, practical reporting pathways, and the role of organisations in strengthening accountability frameworks. The panel emphasized the imperative of internal or external whistleblowing whether through hotlines, ombudsman, compliance officers or other mechanisms so as to provide organisations with an opportunity to address internal failings before they degenerate into a public scandal or law enforcement action.
The fact that nearly ten years after the introduction of the whistleblowing policy Nigeria has yet to enact a whistleblower protection law is beyond cringeworthy. No doubt, the undue delay is down to nothing else but the absence of a political will to make such an important law that addresses integrity and transparency, and provides coverage for citizens to make disclosures on wrongdoing.
The executive branch of government has a whistleblowing bill sponsored by Federal Ministry of Finance, the administrators of the whistleblowing policy, but the bill is reportedly still stuck in the presidency. The bill was sent to the presidency almost a year ago, according to knowledgeable officials in the finance ministry. Why President Bola Tinubu bill hasn’t found the need to transmit it to the national assembly is hard to explain.
Rep. Rotimi says the National Assembly, too, has its own bill which has been left in the back burner because legislators are expecting the president to send in the executive bill so that the two bills can be scrutinized and merged for a proper whistleblower bill that should be promptly passed and signed into law. He says the parliament will work with concerned institutions like PwC and the civil society to ensure that by the next whistleblowing webinar in June 2027, a protection law would be in place.
Thanks to Femi Osinubi, Chioma Obaro, Adeola Adekunle, Jide Shodeinde and Oreoluwa Soyinka, the magnificent team at PwC Nigeria, for their commitment to the work towards breaking the culture of silence in the workplace and outside it.
Onyeacholem is a journalist, whistleblowing activist and Programme Manager at AFRICMIL