The Ethics of Whistleblowing in the Nigerian Public Sector: A Philosophical Analysis of Moral Obligation and Personal Risk

This study provides a philosophical analysis of the ethics of whistleblowing in the Nigerian public sector, examining the moral foundations of the obligation to expose wrongdoing, the limits of that obligation given personal risk, and the philosophical adequacy of the Nigerian Whistleblower Protection Framework. Whistleblowing raises profound ethical questions about the relationship between loyalty to institutions, obligations to the public interest, and duties of personal integrity that have not been adequately analysed in the Nigerian context. A mixed-methods philosophical design is employed, combining systematic philosophical analysis of whistleblowing ethics from Sisela Bok, Nicholas Robins, and African communitarian ethics with a qualitative study of 30 documented whistleblowing cases from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission records from 2019 to 2024 and interviews with 25 current and former public sector employees and philosophy academics in Abuja and Lagos. Findings reveal that the moral case for whistleblowing in the Nigerian public sector is philosophically compelling but that the personal risk imposed on whistleblowers by inadequate legal protection constitutes a moral failure of the state that undermines the obligation to report wrongdoing. The study argues that a morally adequate whistleblower protection framework must be philosophically grounded in an account of the state's duty to protect epistemic courage as a public good. Keywords: whistleblowing ethics, public sector, Nigerian law, moral obligation, epistemic courage.