Exposing fraud may be the next most lucrative business as the Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved the payment of five per cent of recovered fund to anyone who uncovers any fraud.
The Minister of Finance, Kemi Adesina, briefed State House correspondents about this new development on Wednesday at the end of the FEC meeting chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Adeosun gave the briefing in company with the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed and Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola.
The Minister revealed that the programme is designed to encourage anyone with information about a violation, misconduct or improper activity that impacts negatively on the Nigerian people and Government to report it.
She said: “If there is a voluntary return of stolen or concealed public funds or assets on the account of the information provided, the whistleblower may be entitled to anywhere between 2.5 percent (Minimum) and 5 percent (Maximum) of the total amount recovered.
“You must have provided the government with information it does not already have and could not otherwise obtain from any other publicly available source to the government.”
Adeosun maintained that the programme will increase exposure of financial or financial related crimes, support the fight against financial crimes and corruption, improve level of public confidence in public entities, enhance transparency and accountability in the management of public funds, improve Nigeria’s Open Government Ranking and Ease of Doing Business Indicators and recovery of public funds to finance Nigeria’s infrastructural deficit.