No fewer than 42 workers in the Presidential Villa, Aso Rock, Abuja, have been administered an oath to keep official secrets of the government.
The Permanent Secretary, State House, Mr. Tijjani Umar, on Tuesday, warned the affected staff against disclosing confidential information without authorization, saying it would attract penalties under the public service rules.
The warning was contained in a statement by an Assistant Director of Information, State House, Patience Tilley-Gyado.
According to the statement, the Permanent Secretary gave the warning at the administration of Oath of Secrecy and Declaration of Secrecy to 42 staff members of the State House.
The oaths were administered by Justice Hamza Muazu of the FCT High Court.
The Permanent Secretary stated that the oaths were administered to staff members who handled classified documents.
“We discovered that due to deployment of officers and retirement a number of our staff members need to be placed under the radar so that they will be aware that their jobs, the kind of documents or information they are handling from day to day and beyond, are so important and must be safeguarded.
‘‘That’s the reason we decided to do the needful by administering the Oath of Secrecy, highlighting the importance of letting them know what information they are managing and the consequences of the breach of such information.”
The Permanent Secretary said that the exercise would be continuous, even as he was happy that “so far, the State House has not recorded any breach of information.”
The statement quoted him.to have further said: ‘‘We have not had any breach. We don’t anticipate having any breach.
‘‘But then it’s our duty to let them understand that if there is any, there will be consequences after investigations and that also includes after they have retired from the Civil Service.”
Before the administration of the Oaths, Mr Tukur Yahaya, the Director of Special Services Department, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, sensitized the staff members, explaining the essence of the Official Secrets Act, 1962.
According to him: “The essence of this exercise is to ensure the safety and security of government information, documents and facilities.’’