$43.4m NIA cash whistleblower gets reward

Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Ibrahim  Magu yesterday said the government has rewarded the man who blew the whistle on the $43,449,947, £27,800 and N23,218,000 recovered on April 7 in an apartment at 16, Osborne Road, Ikoyi, Lagos.
He said the whistleblower had never owned N1m  before he got the reward for his action.
He said the whistleblower  was undergoing counseling on how to make good use of the money.
Magu urgd Nigerians who are desirous of  a positive change  to take advantage of the whistle blowing policy of the government.
Magu spoke on this at the ongoing 7th Session of the Conference of States Parties to the United Nations Convention Against Corruption holding in Vienna, Austria.
He said aside contributing to the eradication of corruption, potential whistle blowers would benefit from the illicit acquisition by the looters.
A statement by the Head of Media and Publicity of EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, quoted Magu as saying: “The young man who blew the whistle on the $43,449,947, £27,800 and N23,218,000 recovered on April 7, 2017 by the EFCC in an apartment located at 16, Osborne Road, Ikoyi is already a millionaire by virtue of the percentage he is officially entitled to.
“We are currently working on the young man because this is just a man who has not seen one million naira of his own before.
“ So, he is under counseling on how to make good use of the money and also the security implication. We don’t want anything bad to happen to him after taking delivery of his entitlement. He is a  national pride.
“We encourage more whistle blowers to come forward with genuine information that will lead to recoveries from looters of public treasuries. That is part of the ways we can put an end to the looting madness in the public sector.
“When they know that they have no place to keep the loot, as all eyes are on them, they will find looting of public treasuries unattractive “.
A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos and presided over by Justice Muslim Hassan on June 7 ordered the final forfeiture of the total sum of $43,449,947, £27,800 and N23,218,000 to the federal government.
|The Nation