Fight Against Corruption; The Need To Recognise, Encourage And Protect Honest Nigerians Who Expose Criminals By Oluwatosin Damilola

It is completely another issue of fact whether Nigeria, under
the current administration can be said to have succeeded thus far
in her fight against corruption.

Although, this is not the crux of this short article; it will be
very helpful to refresh our minds about the standard of proof where
commission of crime is in alleged (see section 135 of
the Evidence Act, 2011). Proving the commission of a
crime beyond reasonable doubt, to my mind, is usually a heavy
burden to discharge which requires evidence as may be led by
credible witnesses especially where confessional statement of the
accused is infeasible.

Consequently, this brings to fore two major points;

1. The crucial roles honest Nigerians play in the prosecution of
   crime.
2. The need to recognize, encourage and protect honest Nigerians
   who expose criminals.

As it was once noted by Stephen M. Kohn, the director of the
National Whistleblower Center NWC, that protection against
retaliation, amongst others (confidentiality and anonymous
reporting) is key to successful whistleblower programs.
(https://www.whistleblowers.org/news/anonymous-reporting-and-whistleblower-rewards-important-in-fighting-international-money-laundering-and-foreign-bribery/^[1])

Fortunately, it appears that the ADMINISTRATION OF
CRIMINAL JUSTICE ACT, 2015 provides for a seemingly
similar protection of witnesses and expenses of witnesses;

1. (232)

A trial for the offences referred to in subsection (4)
of this section may not, where the court so determines, be held in
an open court.

(2) The names, addresses, telephone numbers and identity
of the victims of such offences or witnesses shall not be disclosed
in any record or report of the proceedings and it shall be
sufficient to designate the names of the victims or witnesses with
a combination of alphabets.

(3) Where in any proceeding the court deems it necessary
to protect the identity of the victim or a witness, the court may
take any or all of the following measures:

(a) receive evidence by video link;
 (this has been tested by the FHC Abuja Division
–see https://www.google.com/amp/s/punchng.com/nyako-court-allows-efccs-application-to-take-evidence-of-witness-via-video-link/amp/^[2])

(b) permit the witness to be screened or
masked;

(c) receive written deposition of expert evidence;
and

(d) any other measure that the court considers
appropriate in the circumstance.

S. 251

Where a person attends court as a state witness, the
witness shall be entitled to payment of such reasonable expenses as
may be prescribed.

Quite recently, it was reported that whistleblowers in Nigeria
are reluctant to even come forward, as published by the
Nigerialawyer on the 21^st day
of November, 2019 via (whistle-blowers-now-reluctant-to-come-forward-fg/^[3]). In that
report Permanent Secretary, Special Duties in the Ministry of
Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mr. Mohammed Dikwa was said
to have mentioned that there has been a reduction in reported cases
of whistle blowing due to some challenges which include lack of
legislation hindering the success of the policy and that some
people that wanted to blow whistle were no longer comfortable with
the new arrangement put in place which arrangement entails filling
of forms as part of process to document their claims. He said

“The reported cases of whistle blowing or the tips
used to come frequently on a daily basis when we just introduced it
in November, 2016.

“When we started, we received 2,000 reported cases
monthly; but it has gone down drastically. “

The need to recognize and reward honest Nigerians to fight crime
has been notably pronounced by Per GALUMJE
J.S.C recently in the case of
Adulrahman v State (2019) NWLR PT 1664, pg 162, at page
177, paras C-D

“Before I end this short contribution, I must
commend, the car paint sprayer who promptly reported the presence
of the stolen car in his workshop. He is a true reflection of an
honest Nigerian who deserves to be encouraged by the Law
enforcement agencies. He definitely deserves an award in order to
encourage others to expose criminals. It is when such people are
recognized and rewarded that the fight against crime will find a
new and extra momentum”

The defendant had set up the defense of Alibi in an
allegation of armed robbery contrary to and punishable under
section 1(2)(a) of the Robbery and Firearms (Special
Provisions) Act, Cap R1 vol. 14, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria,
2004.

The Court noted at page 175, paras C-D
that

“PW1, the victim of the robbery identified the
appellant as the person who robbed him of his taxi, PW2 testified
that it was the appellant who took the taxi to him and asked him to
paint with a different colour…”

In the above case, the said car painter played a crucial role
even as a witness in guiding the prosecution and the court to
demolish the alibi set up by the defense.

Funnily, National honours has not even been hosted in the past
five years (see- https://www.barristerng.com/buhari-fails-to-host-national-honours-in-five-years/^[4]).

In conclusion, it is the opinion of the writer that Nigeria can
further register her commitment to vigorously fight corruption by
recognizing and rewarding people who expose criminals in the
society.

Written by; Oluwatosin Damilola MESE, Esq