Whistle blowers to get billion

Dayo Oketola , Ifeanyi Onuba , and Jesusegun Alagbe Punch All things being equal , whistle -blowers are poised to get N 2 . 1 bn reward for their whistle - blowing efforts that have led to major discoveries since December 20 , 2016 when the policy was inaugurated by the Federal Government, findings by Saturday PUNCH have shown . READ : Presidency may extend whistle -blowing policy to weapon recovery It was , however , learnt that payment would only be made after the recoveries have been thoroughly investigated by the anti - graft agencies . The Minister of Information and Culture , Alhaji Lai Mohammed , had at the inauguration of the policy, said any Nigerian who gave information leading to the recovery of looted funds would be compensated by up to five per cent of the amount. He had also laid out the compensation plan , saying informants whose information led to the discovery of up to N1 bn would receive five per cent of the amount; those who gave tips leading to the discovery of between N1 bn and N5 bn would receive five per cent on the first N1 bn and four per cent on the remaining N 4 bn; while those who gave information leading to the recovery of over N5 bn would get 2 . 5 per cent of the amount. Mohammed had further clarified that those who gave information leading to the recovery of , say , N10 bn would get five per cent of N 1 bn, four per cent of N4 bn and 2 . 5 per cent of the remaining N5 bn. Four months after this policy was launched, the Federal Government has recovered about N71 . 7 bn, with informants entitled to a sum of N2 . 1 bn, Saturday PUNCH estimates have shown . For instance , a whistle - blower ’ s tip had on February 3 , 2017 led to the recovery of $ 9 . 8 m and £ 74 , 000 , totalling N 3 bn, belonging to a former Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation , Andrew Yakubu . READ ALSO : Whistle- blower policy : FG receives 2 , 251 reports on stolen funds , others Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission had stormed a building in Sabon Tasha in Kaduna City , where the money was stashed in a huge fire proof safe . Going by the Federal Government’ s compensation plan , the informant is entitled to five per cent of N1 bn ( N50 m ) and four per cent of the remaining N2 bn ( N80 m ), making a total of N 130m . On February 12 , 2017 , Mohammed said a whistle - blower’ s tip ha