Whistleblowers’ Protection Legislation: in Search for Model for Nigeria

Abstract

Reporting of wrongdoing in private or public organization in the public interest to the authorities concerned known as ‘whistleblowing’ is globally gaining support. It is no longer strange that some ‘courageous’ current or former employees or even a member of the public exposes a big financial scandal, mismanagement of public funds or grievous breach of health and safety regulation.
The revelation made could be disastrous both to the organization reported and to the person making the report. Ordinarily, because of the existence of the common law duties of trust, loyalty and confidence a whistle-blower could be legitimately dismissed and prosecuted. So many countries are now abandoning this old harsh common law principle in favor of laws protecting whistleblowers against any consequences of their revelation. Among these countries is Nigeria. This paper seeks to test the two bills on whistle-blowing before the Nigerian legislature against the best practices in whistle-blowing.