By Peter OBIORA InvestAdvocate

Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE) – The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) Tuesday said it will launch a Whistleblowing Portal in 2013 to help it in its operations and ensure compliance of rules and regulations.

This was disclosed by Abimbola Babalola, Head, and Market Surveillance Department of the NSE at the X-Compliance training for journalists at the Exchange held in Lagos Nigeria.

The X-Compliance training was organised by Head, Legal and Regulation Division, The Nigerian Stock Exchange, Ms Tinu Awe.

Whistleblowing is the disclosure by a person, usually an employee in a government agency or private enterprise, to the public or to those in authority, of mismanagement, corruption, illegality, or some other wrongdoing.

“The strategy we are going to use is that we will build a Portal, where people can give us information without putting their Email address and Telephone number; if you feel you want to share anything with the Exchange, we would allow you to do so and nobody will know who you are” he said.

Babalola said at the NSE, if it’s confirmed that a rumour of Insider Trading is true, the Issuer will be made to understand the implications of their actions and held accountable.

“I think the question is on rumour verification on insider trading, what we do at the Exchange if we confirm that a rumour is true, we hold the Issuer and let them understand the implication; but it doesn’t stop there.

We do what is called back testing, we go back to find out those who traded on that Security, do we have an insider and if so which means the person has violated Securities rule in Nigeria, which CAMA, IST and the NSE rules and regulation are against.

And if we see something that is consistent that every time, there is always a rumour, we would have to call the Company to order. And let the Directors know that they have a responsibility to the Market.

While reacting to a question on whether Whistleblowers will be rewarded, Babalola said that the first issue will be to talk about the protection of the Whistleblower before talking of rewarding.

“There is a risk associative with it, if I bring you forward that this is the man that gave us the information which we used in arresting somebody for instance, I’m sure in Nigeria, that Whistleblower may not last long. I think our concern would be on how to protect the Whistleblower” he said.

According to Wikipedia, a whistleblower is a person who tells the public or someone in authority about alleged dishonest or illegal activities (misconduct) occurring in a government department or private company or organisation. The alleged misconduct may be classified in many ways; for example, a violation of a law, rule, regulation and/or a direct threat to public interest, such as fraud, health/safety violations, and corruption.

Wikipedia further affirmed that Whistleblowers may make their allegations internally (for example, to other people within the accused organisation) or externally (to regulators, law enforcement agencies, to the media or to groups concerned with the issues).