Nigeria Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, has said the whistleblower who intimated the government leading to the recovery of large cash running to billions of Naira was already lined up for payment in the next batch.

Adeosun in a statement on Sunday denied reports the individual who tipped off the government had been abandoned.

The minister informed that “the Federal Government has not withheld any fund due to any whistleblower.

“The Ministry has in place detailed procedures for processing payments due under the Whistleblower Policy.

“The procedures were designed to prevent abuse and legal disputes and to ensure protection of the information provider,” she clarified.

According to the minister, “these procedures include an application by the agency who recovered the funds including evidence of the recovery, confirmation that there are no pending legal issues on the recovery, verification of the identity of the information provider, calculation of the amount payable and computation of relevant taxes.”

She further pointed out that payments are made in monthly batches to ensure control and to protect the identity of information providers.

Revealing that to date, over 20 of such persons had been paid.

“From available records, the payment due on Ikoyi is among those being processed in the November batch, which will be released within the current month.”

The Minister reiterated that the Whistleblowing Policy of the Federal Government remained one of the current Administration’s successful initiatives and that the Government was fully committed to ensuring that all those who responded to the policy and partnered with Government in the recovery effort would be paid in full and most importantly have their identity protected.

The Whistleblower Policy was introduced in December 2016 by the Federal Government as part of the initiatives to wage war against corruption.

It could be recalled the whistleblower was taken to the psychiatrist test in Lagos for what the government said was madness, which was denied by the lawyer who said he had petitioned the government.

The controversy has thrown cast doubts on the policy  with many fearing if whistleblowers are treated in this manner, no person would come forward with information regarding stashed cash in the future.