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Akinwande Soji-Ojo
The Federal Government through the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation has initiated moves to ensure that official government documents classified as sensitive are not leaked to the public.
The Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Dr Folashade Yemi-Esan, in a memo dated February 19, 2024 and posted on the website of the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, said the leakages of such documents have become embarrassing to the government and as such become unacceptable.
The memo, with reference number HCSF/3065/VI/189,read: “It has been observed with dismay, the increase in the cases of leakage of sensitive official documents in Ministries, Departments and Agencies. This is very embarrassing to the government and therefore unacceptable.
“As part of the efforts to curb this undesirable development, all permanent secretaries are to fast-track the migration to the digitalised workflow system, and ensure effective deployment of the Enterprise Content Management Solution,
“This will reduce physical contact with official documents thereby checking the increasing incidence of leakage and circulation of same.
“Furthermore, permanent secretaries are advised to strongly warn all staff against leaking and circulating official information and documents.
“Any officer caught engaging in such unbecoming act will be severely dealt with in line with the relevant provisions of the Public Service Rules and other extant circulars.”
Recently, there has been an upsurge in the leakage of sensitive government documents in the public space, especially on social media.
A memo from the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, which revealed plans to allocate the sum of N500 million as allowances to members of the tripartite committee on minimum wage set up by the Federal Government was leaked on social media.
Also, a memo about a huge amount of money to be allocated as subsidy for 2024 Hajj, which purportedly emanated from the Office of the Minister of Finance was seen in the public space.
The two memos had elicited outrage among Civil Society Organisations and Nigerians, with the organised labour demanding the probe of such allocations.