Under Nigeria’s Labour Act and related statutes, the primary focus is on the relationship between employers and employees, covering issues such as contracts, conditions of work, and employee rights.
The Labour Act itself does not explicitly provide for the arrest of employees in the course of their work, except where other criminal laws are implicated.
The arrest of Mr. Mairiga Hassan Shaharu, a civil servant, for allegedly leaking official documents relating to land allocations by Nyesom Wike, thus falls outside the direct purview of the Labour Act and enters the realm of criminal law and public service regulations.
Nigeria’s criminal statutes, particularly Section 97(2) of the Criminal Code Act, criminalize the unauthorized abstraction or copying of official documents by public servants.
This provision states that any public servant who, without proper authority, abstracts or makes a copy of any document belonging to his employer is guilty of a misdemeanor and liable to imprisonment for one year.
The Federal Government has repeatedly warned civil servants that unauthorized disclosure or leakage of official documents, especially those capable of impacting national interests, is a punishable offence.
In line with the Official Secrets Act and Public Service Rules, the Nigerian government has reinforced the need for confidentiality in public service through circulars and workshops, emphasizing the importance of the Official Secrets Act.
This Act and other extant regulations prohibit the unauthorized disclosure of sensitive information, with disciplinary and criminal consequences for breaches. The arrest of Mr. Shaharu, therefore, aligns with these regulations if the alleged leak was unauthorized and involved official documents.
Nevertheless, this brings to mind the rather disturbing question: If there were no illegal, hidden transactions as allegedly revealed, why would anyone be arrested for leaking classified documents? This one question begs for an answer while lending credence to the possibility of the veracity of allegations of land grabbing by Minister of Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory, Mr Nyesom Wike.
While Nigeria has a whistleblower policy intended to encourage the exposure of corruption and wrongdoing, the legal framework for protecting whistleblowers remains weak and fragmented.
There is no comprehensive or designated whistleblower protection law in force, and whistleblowers often face retaliation, including arrest, dismissal, or victimization.
The Whistleblower Protection Bill, which has not yet become law, proposes safeguards against victimization and provides for remedies, but its provisions are not yet enforceable in practice.
The Labour Act and related employment laws do not specifically address the arrest of employees for acts committed in the course of their work, especially in cases involving alleged criminal conduct such as leaking official documents.
However, legal scholars have argued that the duty of care owed by employers should be extended to protect employees from harm, including arrest and conviction, when such actions arise from lawful performance of their duties.
In practice, Nigerian law is silent on compensation or indemnity for employees arrested in such circumstances, and there is no statutory obligation for the employer to intervene or protect the employee beyond what is provided in criminal law.
Recall that reports indicate that Mr. Shaharu, a staff member of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), was arrested for allegedly leaking documents related to the controversial allocation of Abuja land by Minister Nyesom Wike to his son.
While the allegations against Wike have been denied by the Minister, the arrest of Shaharu appears to be based on the application of the Criminal Code and Official Secrets Act, rather than any provision of the Labour Act or employment law, thus leaving a lot to be desired
The tension between the need for government transparency and the enforcement of confidentiality in public service is at the heart of this issue.
On one hand, the arrest of Mr. Shaharu may be legally justified under existing criminal statutes and public service rules.
On the other hand, the lack of robust whistleblower protections means that individuals who expose potential corruption or abuse of office are vulnerable to prosecution, even when acting in the public interest.
Until Nigeria enacts comprehensive whistleblower protection laws, the arrest of employees such as Shaharu for leaking official documents will continue to be legally permissible, though it raises significant ethical and policy questions about transparency, accountability, and the protection of those who expose wrongdoing.