FG Recalls Sacked Whistleblower

Ntia Thompson, a whistleblower who lost his job for reporting alleged fraud at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2016, has been recalled.

Mr. Thompson, an assistant director in the Servicom Unit of the Directorate of Technical Cooperation in Africa (DTCA), was first suspended on December 19, 2016, before later disengaged from service on February 23, 2017.

He was fired for exposing fraud to the tune of $229,000 and N800, 000, alleged to have been committed by Mohammed Kachallah, the Director-General of DTCA.

Following sustained pressure from civic group calling for Thompson’s reinstatement, the Ministry recalled the whistleblower.

The move comes barely two months after the introduction of the whistle-blowing policy by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.

Approved by the Federal Executive Council, the policy was introduced to boost the fight against Corruption.

The Whistleblowing Programme aims at encouraging citizens in private or public sector, or even the armed forces, to report cases of corruption either in their places of work or elsewhere.

In doing so, the government vowed to protect the Whistleblower and reward them with a percentage of the recovered loot.

Reacting to the news of Mr. Thompson’s reinstatement on Monday, the Africa Centre for Media and Information Literacy, AFRICMIL, described Mr. Thompson’s reinstatement as a triumph of good over evil.

A statement signed by the coordinator of the organisation, Chido Onumah, said the government should not always hesitate in taking action against reported wrongdoing.

“Ntia’s case is a triumph of good over evil and it gives us hope that we are moving in the right direction on the whistle blower policy,” the statement said.

“While it is ethically correct to recall a dismissed whistleblower, it is also morally right that action is taken on the reported wrongdoing in a just manner,” the statement said.

“Only through that way can the confidence of potential whistleblowers be sustained.”