Aso Rock staff take oath of secrecy, warned of ‘consequences’ for leaking classified information

Members of staff of the state house have been warned against divulging classified information after taking an oath of secrecy.

Tijani Umar, permanent secretary, state house, sounded the warning on Tuesday in Abuja.

The oath was administered by Hamza Muazu, a judge of the federal capital territory (FCT) high court.

The permanent secretary said the breach of classified information is inimical to the delivery of service, adding that there are consequences of mishandling such responsibilities.

“I want to begin my remarks by saying that this exercise for me is the beginning of doing what is right in our respective offices,” he said.

“Breach of classified information and documents is inimical to the delivery of service. Therefore, we found it necessary to assist this segment of staff who are directly dealing with classified information.

“This is a very peculiar environment and, therefore, it is important to us to remind them about their duties, their oaths, their responsibilities in all those things they are handling and then the consequences of mishandling such kind of responsibilities.”

He warned that any breach of government rules and regulations would always carry a consequence, adding that the state house has not witnessed any breach of information.

“Cumulatively, these members of staff are the ones that from day to day handle some of the most sensitive information going back and forth in our offices and in our environment,” he added.

“It is very important to us to discharge our responsibility and our obligations and to let them understand that we are going to apply the rules.

“Government as an institution is held together by laws, by rules and by regulations and those laws, rules and regulations are there to be respected, to be enforced and any breach of that will always carry a consequence.

“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.”