Ministry to revisit dismissed whistleblower’s case – Onyeama
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, has assured that the dismissed assistant director in the Directorate for Technical Cooperation in Africa (DTCA), Mr. Ntia Thompson, would be reinstated and compensated for damages if found innocent of the offence for his dismissal. He gave the assurance while responding to questions from journalists in Abuja yesterday.
Thompson, who raised the alarm that $229,000 and N800,000 had been diverted by key officials of the agency, was dismissed from service on February 7, 2017. But Onyeama said the ministry had a comprehensive report on the issue, noting that an investigation would be carried out and justice would be done.
He said the ministry “wholeheartedly and completely” subscribed to whistleblower protection because the anti-graft war was one of the cardinal points of the present administration.
“I will do everything possible to protect any whistle blower in this ministry because the agenda of the government is clearly one that embraces whistle blowing,” the minister said.
Meanwhile, the Directorate for Technical Cooperation in Africa has insisted that the dismissal of Mr. Thompson has nothing to do with whistle-blowing. The agency’s Head of Protocol and Public Relations, Momoh Suleiman, said Thompson was sacked after committing various infractions and was issued four queries.
The infractions, according to Suleiman, included “violation of oath of secrecy (April 4, 2016), absence from work without leave (June 28, 2016), refusal to carry out lawful instructions (Nov. 2016) and making false claims in July 2016 bordering on an allegation that the Director-General of DTCA and one other assistant director were threatening his life and that of his family. Mr Thompson put this into writing to the Inspector-General of Police, who conducted a thorough investigation and declared the allegation as false.
