Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun
The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, yesterday declared that the Federal Government had not withheld any funds entitled to whistleblowers. Instead, she said the current administration had put in place a robust mechanism for processing of payment.
According to her, the procedures were designed to prevent abuse as well as legal disputes and ensure the protection of the information providers.Reacting to a media reports surrounding the payment to a whistleblower, who provided the tips that led to the recovery of funds stashed away in a property in Ikoyi, Lagos State, Adeosun stated that procedures for accessing payment included an application by the agency that recovered the funds as well as evidence of the recovery.
She added that other conditions comprise confirmation that there were no pending legal issues on the recovery, verification of the identity of the information provider as well as calculation of the amount payable and computation of relevant taxes.
In a statement by her Special Adviser (Media and Communications), Oluyinka Akintunde, she said: ”It must be stated also that payments are made on monthly basis to ensure control and to protect the identity of information providers. To date, over 20 of such persons have been paid. From available records, the payment due on Ikoyi is among those being processed in the November batch, which will be released within the current month.”
The minister reiterated that the whistle-blowing policy of the Federal Government remains one of the current administration’s successful initiatives and that government was committed to ensuring its success.The policy was introduced last December as part of efforts to wage the war against corruption.
