Breaking: Presidency requires personnel to sign an Oath of Secrecy and threatens harsh penalties if they do not.

Tijjani Umar, the Permanent Secretary, State House, cautioned workers on Tuesday in Abuja that revealing private material without authorization may result in disciplinary action under public service regulations.

POLITICS NIGERIA has gathered that the Permanent Secretary made this statement during the administration of the Oath of Secrecy and Declaration of Secrecy to 42 State House personnel by Justice Hamza Muazu of the Federal Capital Territory High Court. According to the Permanent Secretary, the oaths were administered to staff employees who deal with confidential material.

‘‘We discovered that, as a result of officer deployments and retirements, a number of our staff members need to be placed on the radar to ensure they understand how critical their jobs, the type of documents or information they handle on a daily basis and beyond, are and how they must be safeguarded.

“That is why we decided to take action by delivering the Oath of Secrecy and emphasizing the necessity of informing them about the information they are handling and the repercussions of a breach,” he added.

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The Permanent Secretary, who confirmed that the process will continue indefinitely, expressed satisfaction that the State House has not yet documented any data breach.

“There has been no breach. We have no reason to believe there will be a breach.

“However, it is our responsibility to make them aware that if there are any, there would be consequences following investigations, including after they have retired from the Civil Service,” he added.

Prior to the administration of the Oaths, Mr Tukur Yahaya, Director of Special Services Department, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, sensitized the employees by outlining the Official Secrets Act, 1962 in its entirety.

“The purpose of this exercise is to safeguard and secure government information, records, and facilities,” he explained.