Will Other Countries Duplicate Nigeria’s Whistleblower Program?
By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team
The Nigerian government recently reported that its two-months-old whistleblower program has already recovered over $176 million. While these numbers are skewed due to a single recovery of over $136 million, the yields are still quite impressive. Information and Culture Minister Lai Mohammed was not shy on confidence when describing the early returns of the program:
When we told Nigerians that there was a primitive and mindless looting of the national treasury under the last administration, some people called us liars. Well, the whistle-blower policy is barely two months old and Nigerians have started feeling its impact, seeing how a few people squirrelled away public funds. It is doubtful if any economy in the world will not feel the impact of such mind-boggling looting of the treasury as was experienced in Nigeria.
According to the language of Nigeria’s policy, a whistleblower that provides the government with non-public information leading to a successful recovery may be entitled to between 2.5 and 5 percent of the amount recovered. By comparison, the United States’ more established whistleblower programs typically offer a much more generous bounty structure. For instance, the False Claims Act, along with the SEC, IRS, and Motor Vehicle Safety Whistleblower Programs all entitle a whistleblower to receive up to 30 percent of a successful recovery. Yet the modest bounty percentage has not stopped Nigeria’s program from a notably successful start. This success warrants the question of whether other countries will soon follow Nigeria’s lead, as many countries do not have any formal whistleblower award programs at all.
