(Ecofin Agency) - When coming to power in 2015, President Muhammadu Buhari promised to make the fight against corruption a priority during his term. A year later, an initial whistleblower policy emerged, but it did not yield the expected results.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) of Nigeria has launched a mobile anti-corruption app called "The Eagle Eye". The instrument will allow Nigerians to anonymously report cases of corruption.

With this new step, the new EFCC chairman Abdulrasheed Bawa (pictured) reiterates his commitment to eradicating corruption in Nigeria. The official urges the public and the media to use the platform.

“Apart from complementing the existing channels for reporting economic crimes, the unique advantage of this application is that it eliminates direct person-to-person interface in the reporting process and guarantees anonymity which is an added incentive to effective whistleblowing," Mr. Bawa said.

The Eagle Eye will therefore facilitate the process of reporting suspected economic crimes to Nigerians, without the risk of having their identity revealed or suffering reprisals from the culprits, thanks to the anonymity system.

The Nigerian civil society commends the design of the mobile application and recognizes the laudable efforts of politicians in the anti-corruption war. However, it remains skeptical about the reliability and effectiveness of the initiative.

As a reminder, Nigeria ranks 149th worldwide out of 180 countries in the NGO Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index published in January 2021.