The federal government has announced its plan to block leakages of official documents, following a series of recent leaks exposing wasteful and other forms of suspicious expenditures incurred by public officers amid the worsening economic woes of the country.
Folashade Yemi-Esan, Nigeria’s head of civil service of the Federation, expressed concerns about rampant cases of disclosure of sensitive official documents in ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs).
In a circular dated 19 February but seen on Wednesday by PREMIUM TIMES, Ms Yemi-Esan said the government found the leakages of official documents “very embarrassing.”
She vowed to sanction any federal government official caught flouting the directive.
In the circular addressed to 24 top heads of government institutions, including the Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu, the Clerk of the National Assembly, and the Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court, the government directed permanent secretaries to “fast-track the migration to the digitalised workflow system, and ensure effective deployment of the Enterprise Content Management (ECM) Solution.”
The circular titled, ‘Measures to curtail the leakage of sensitive official information/documents in ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs),’ came amidst recent leaks exposing Betta Edu’s suspicious authorisation of payment of N585.2 million into the private bank account of a civil servant at the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.
Some recent leaks
The leaked memo showed that Ms Edu had in December 2023 requested Oluwatoyin Madein, the accountant general of the federation, to transfer the money from the account of the National Social Investment Office to the private account of Bridget Oniyelu, the accountant of a federal government poverty intervention project called Grants for Vulnerable Groups, a project under Mrs Edu’s ministry.
The request contravenes various sections of Nigeria’s Financial Regulations 2009 meant to prevent fraud and other forms of corruption in government business
The leaked memo also showed that a firm, New Planet Projects, traced to the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, received N438 million as payment for ‘consultancy fees’ from the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation on Ms Edu’s watch.
But the interior minister denied any involvement in the contract, insisting that he was no longer involved in the running of the company after resigning as its director in 2019.
Despite the denial, the Code of Conduct in an invitation dated 10 January asked Mr Tunji-Ojo to appear before it on Tuesday, 16 January, for interrogation over the contract scandal.
In the wake of the controversy that trailed Ms Edu’s approval of the payments, President Bola Tinubu suspended her from office as minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.
In another instance, a leaked memo showed that Mr Tinubu’s Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, approved the N3 billion request from Ms Edu concerning COVID-19 funds.
Mr Gbajabiamila, a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, has since asked law enforcement agencies to investigate what he called a campaign of calumny against him by mischief makers.
Recently, a memo emerged online showing Mr Tinubu approved N500 million to George Akume, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, for the inauguration of a 37-member committee on minimum wage negotiation.
‘Embarrassing leaks’
Without giving details, Ms Yemi-Esan, Nigeria’s head of federal civil service, described leakages of official documents as “embarrassing to the government.”
“It has been observed with dismay, the increase in the cases of leakage of sensitive official documents in ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs). This is very embarrassing to the government and therefore unacceptable.”
Her memo added: “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 (ECM) Solution. This will reduce physical contact with official documents, thereby checking the increasing incidence of leakage and circulation of the same.
“Furthermore, Permanent Secretaries are advised to strongly warn all staff (members) against leaking and circulating official information and documents. Any officer caught engaging in such an unbecoming act will be severely dealt with in line with the relevant provisions of the Public Service Rules and other extant circulars. This circular therefore reinforces the earlier circular on ‘Unauthorised Circulation of Official Document/Information on Social Media…dated 2 August 2021, and other regulations prohibiting unauthorised disclosure/leakage of official documents.
“Permanent Secretaries are to ensure strict compliance with the contents of this circular and draw the attention of the Heads of agencies under their supervision to same.”
