THE MORAL QUANDARY IN NIGERIA’S WHISTLEBLOWING POLICY: HOW NOT TO ENTHRONE AN ETHICS OF RESPONSIBILITY

By

Christopher O. Akpan

Department of Philosophy

University of Calabar, Nigeria

Abstract

This paper interrogates the thesis that the whistleblowing policy is a valuable anti-corruption tool that also enthrones an ethics of responsibility. Its major aim is to expose some ethical challenges that trail the act of whistleblowing vis-a-vis the intriguing issues of responsibility and reward. Using a combination of content analysis and evaluative methods, This paper posits that rewarding a blower with a certain ‘cut’ of the recovered loot could encourage ethical egoism. This work contends that ethics of responsibility detests selfish interest, which underlies egoism. Thus, a thesis is developed that, since whistleblowing ought to be done in good faith, supposedly by a responsible and public-spirited agent, it should not attract a reward of financial cut. As a result this paper appeals to a traditional African moral maxim which says: ‘a person who eats the stolen food of a thief is a thief,’ to show that such a reward is morally problematic. Indeed, it smacks of moral hypocrisy and runs counter to enthroning the virtue of responsibility, and of curbing corruption which the policy was originally intended. This paper recommends that a reward of National Honour christened Nigerian Integrity and Patriotism Personified (NIPP) and job employment/promotion could be awarded to relevant whistleblowers.