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Tag: Pantami

  • FG planning to replace BVN with NIN – Minister

    FG planning to replace BVN with NIN – Minister

    The Federal Government has stated arrangements are ongoing to replace the Bank Verification Numbers (BVN) with the National Identity Numbers (NIN).

    The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy Dr Isa Pantami, who disclosed this to newsmen shortly after a tour of telecoms operators and NIN licensees in Abuja, said President Muhammadu Buhari has been briefed on the on-going NIN registrations.

    Pantami who said the President was happy with the conducts of the exercise so far, added he had also briefed the National Economic Sustainability Committee headed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on the imperative of replacing BVN with NIN.

    Pantami argued that while BVN was only for accounts holders with various banks, the National Identity Numbers are for all Nigerians irrespective of their status.

    To ascertain the smooth registration of Nigerians, the Minister visited the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) registration Centre in Gwarinpa, the Zonal Headquarters of MTN, Glo Mobile and Airtel in Maitama as well as a Private operator, OMNL, Nigeria.

    Accompanied by the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof Garba Danbatta; Director-General General of NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa and Chief Executive Officer of NIMC, Engr Aliyu Aziz, the Minister said he was impressed by the strict adherence to COVID-19 protocols at all the registration centres.

    Responding to challenges encountered by those with the BVN data trying to upgrade with NIN data, Pantami said:” The challenge is that the BVN records may not be 100 percent the same with NIN but what is most important is that the NIN is the primary identity of each and every citizen, including legal residents.

    “BVN is a policy of a bank and has not been established by law, NIN is the only mandatory number and the primary identification of our citizens and every other identification is secondary.

    “The NIMC Act 2007 provides that all our citizens must be enrolled and the law gives them 60 days to enroll from the time the law was enacted and a maximum of 180 days and all permanent residents in the country and legal residents that have to stay here for a minimum of 24 months must be enrolled.

    “So this is the primary identification of all and all other data bases are supposed to utilize this and not for NIN to utilize the BVN because it is the primary one.

    “We discussed with the CBN Governor today on how to ensure that all our citizens with BVN will immediately be provided with the NIN. We are working on that but facilitating the process lies on CBN to make it much easier for our people.”

    Asked to clarify government position on the BVN replacement with NIN, Pantami said:” I made a presentation to National Economic Sustainability Committee and I drew the attention of CBN Governor that we need to replace BVN with NIN because the BVN is a bank policy while NIN is a law.

    “Because it has been established by law so the strength of the law wherever you go is not the same with a policy of one institution.

    “Also, BVN is only applicable to those who have bank accounts but NIN is for every citizen and legal residents in the country. BVN is our secondary database while NIN and the database is the primary one in the country that each and every institution should make reference to NIMC.”

  • That Zombie Order on NIN-SIM integration – Chido Nwakanma

    That Zombie Order on NIN-SIM integration – Chido Nwakanma

    By Chido Nwakanma

    Our Federal Government has gone mad again.

    It is difficult to draw any other conclusion upon news of the inexplicable FG order to telecom operators to block from their networks all users without the National Identification Number in two weeks, meaning from 30 December 2020. It has neither rhyme nor reason.

    The order only reminds one of the Not To Be Broadcast hit of the late legendary Fela Anikulapo Kuti. What thought processes informed such an order?

    Now officials of various government agencies are coming out of the woodworks with what they imagine to be clarifications.

    This time the order is from the Nigerian Communications Commission, according to a statement by its Director of Public Affairs Dr Ikechukwu Adinde. The statement is on the IMPLEMENTATION OF NEW SIM REGISTRATION RULES. It follows the directive of the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami).

    Stakeholders of the Communications industry met on Monday 14 December and agreed on this New rule on SIMs.

    “The meeting had in attendance the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and Management of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), as well as the CEOs and Management staff of all service providers in the industry.”

    The December Madness thrown upon the nation by NCC is because of an alleged “need to consolidate the achievements of last year’s SIM registration audit and improve the performance and sanity of the sector”. They decided on “urgent drastic measures… to improve the integrity and transparency of the SIM registration process.”

    The Minister decided and instructed Operators to require ALL their subscribers to provide valid National Identification Number (NIN) to update SIM registration records.

    ​The submission of NIN by subscribers to take place within two weeks (from today 16 December 2020 and end by 30 December 2020).​
    After the deadline, ALL SIMs without NINs are to be blocked from the networks.
    ​
    A Ministerial Task Force comprising the Minister and all the CEOs (among others) as members is to monitor compliance by all networks.

    Violations of this directive will be met by stiff sanctions, including the possibility of withdrawal of operating license.”

    The Oxford Dictionary defines a zombie as A corpse said to be revived by witchcraft, especially in certain African and Caribbean religions. The order is a zombie, seeking to revive by word of mouth the corpse of NIN registration. The Oxford Dictionary defines a zombie as A corpse said to be revived by witchcraft, especially in certain African and Caribbean religions. ‘It has taken up to ten years without much progress. With the order of Minister Pantami, over 100 million Nigerians will suddenly succeed with their efforts at getting a NIN number! Wonderful.

    It is nothing but a power show, dangling the threat of license withdrawal on the telcos and blocking from the network on citizens. The stated rationale is too thin to justify this Draco’s Decree.

    I have a word for Minister Isa Ali Ibrahim. Think again, Sir, and reconsider this stance. Many reasons show why it is unworkable and does not cohere with rational thinking.

    There was no such requirement when citizens like me registered our SIMS. You cannot spring such a new rule on us at the end of the year and give a two-week timeline for 150 million people. The Ministry and its agencies cannot manage logistics of the registration exercise, even as they have stayed away from discussion of the modalities.

    Many citizens have tried without success to register for the NIN. I have done so thrice. One was at the Stanbic IBTC branch on Adetokunbo Ademola Street, Victoria Island. I have since tried to use the slip they issued me that day in the bank only for it to draw a null (NIN). I have done the online version—the same result.

    The order comes as workers everywhere are shutting down for the year. National Identity Management Commission has notoriously been unable to manage the national identity process for more than eight years. How will it do so in two weeks? Baffling is the fact that their CEO sat at that conference and did not own up to the logistical impossibility of such a task.

    Challenges with SIM are not like the pandemic. Even with the COVID-19 pandemic, nations spaced out the implementation of lockdown and other control measures. Speaking of which, both the Ministry and NCC want to serve as instigators for super spread of COVID-19 that will happen inevitably when people converge in large numbers at NIN centres to attempt to register for their NINs again.

    It is also curious that the Minister is compelling the telcos to do in two weeks what has taken them two decades of slowly and steadily building one success factor of the Nigerian economy. What will these draconian rules mean for a sector that the regulator and operator have built on dialogue and consultation over the last 20 years? Check the records, Sir.

    What or who is behind the drum of this emergency? To stem what really?

    The Bankers Committee worked with the Central Bank of Nigeria to implement the Bank Verification Number (BVN). It has been systematic and procedural, not knee-jerk. There is a well-articulated Regulatory Framework for Bank Verification Number Operations and Financial System Watch List. It has taken more than seven years. BVN has yet to capture all bank customers as it is work in progress.

    Minister Isa Ibrahim Pantami would in my estimation not want to be associated with governance as punishment for citizens. In case he does not know, his Integrate NIN in two weeks or lose your SIM or license is nothing but authority as hemlock. We will not drink poison. Take it away. Put together a team of thinkers to study how other nations introduce new policies and the timelines they allow for implementation.
    Please withdraw this order as quickly as you issued it.

  • Telecoms: Regulatory lessons from Teribogo – Okoh Aihe

    Telecoms: Regulatory lessons from Teribogo – Okoh Aihe

    Okoh Aihe

    Even Teribogo, the mutative character in Wole Soyinka’s Chronicles of the Happiest People on Earth, knows that to survive in a country in convoluting decadence like Nigeria, one must adjust on-the-go to fit into the prevailing colours of the times and build up enough cash and connections to last beyond a life time. So, he is Papa Davina, Dennis Tibidje, and even the Guide; some kind of personality apotheosis in continuum. Teribogo is always on the move. No condition holds him down.

    By very desperate thinking, I am of the opinion that this is the way telecommunications regulation should go. Able to mutate at any time to changing times in order to deal with ever emerging problems. Without using the hammer to squash a fly, one must say, very bluntly, that there are lots of problems in the telecommunications industry that need very urgent but creative attention.

    One of such problems, which has become very perennial, are the unregistered SIM cards still awash all over the country which, in the hands of criminal elements, have become enabling tools needed to visit criminality on a hapless citizenry. In the preceding weeks on this column, having travelled by road in parts of Delta and Edo states and being stuffed with troubling stories on how criminals negotiate with their mobile phones and putting conversation on speaker so that all could hear, we had raised a cry on the urgent need for the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) which superintends the telecommunications industry to make an intervention. There have been tons of articles written on SIM Card registration and how a seeming void in the success of the exercise has fueled the operations of hoodlums and bandits and others resident in that ignoble class of earthly misfits.

    Last week, the regulator hammered down a decision for all operators to stop issuing new SIM cards. Result, a moratorium on the sale of new SIM has been put in place until further notice. Even before I saw the press statement by the regulator, I was tipped off by a source at MTN which told me they have had to suspend sales immediately as the organization didn’t want to witness the trauma of a debilitating fine regime again.

    The NCC statement signed by Director, Public Affairs, Dr Ikechukwu Adinde, stated in part: “In line with the Federal Government desire to consolidate the achievement of the SIM Card registration exercise of September, 2019, the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy has directed the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to embark on another audit of the Subscriber Registration Database again.

    “The objective of the audit exercise is to verify and ensure compliance by Mobile Network Operators with the set quality standards and requirements of SIM Card Registration issued by the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy and the Commission.

    “Accordingly, Mobile Network Operators are hereby directed to immediately suspend the sale, registration and activation of new SIM Cards until the audit exercise is concluded, and Government has conveyed the new direction.”
    Adinde warned of strict sanctions where compliance is not strictly adhered.

    When a child has been scarred by fire even fireflies tend to make him jump. The regulator’s statement carries a dangerous punch which speed no sane operator would want to stop.

    SIM Card registration came into effect in 2011 when the Regulations on Registration of Telephone Subscribers was put in place. In a country where even the first census figures in 1962 were mired in controversy, SIM registration was seen as some kind of miracle worker to rid the country off improper documentation in that sector. Good expectations. But only MTN bore the crushing weight of the deficiencies in the exercise in 2015 when the operator was fined a staggering N1.04tn for failing to disconnect 5.1million incompletely registered SIM cards but the fine was reduced to N330bn in 2016 after negotiations. No operator wants to go down that lane anymore and face such fine.

    This is a smart and welcome move by the NCC. But something must be pointed out here at the risk of sounding like a broken record. It is not the place of the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy to “direct” the regulator on how to regulate the industry. Such action is not accommodated in the Nigerian Communications Act 2003. It is a dangerous meddlesomeness capable of exposing the regulator to ridicule, both locally and intentionally. Perhaps out of misguided exuberance, the Minister is weakening the independent pillars that form the support structure of the telecommunications industry. Willy-nilly, his actions can discourage investors from coming into the Nigerian market as no investor wants to put money in a market that is subjected to government’s direct interference.

    Having observed that there are issues in the telecommunications industry, some of them regulatory and others operational, one would be at liberty to suggest that the primary stakeholders of the industry should parley to search for solutions. This writer is not disposed to a situation of the almighty regulator holding the yam and the knife and dishing out favours and punishment at will.

    The situation in the industry calls for an emergency response and not fines. To this, I recommend the lithe touch, agile or smart regulation or as
    some people would say, fourth generation regulation; but there is fifth generation now, making fourth generation (4G) to be very ancient. However, the point at issue is for the regulator to draw on its rich repertoire of expertise, nurtured by a history of trainings and industry travels and experiences to proffer solutions instead of looking for the easy way out. Buck passing and blame game are the most popular games in a country where even the highest seats of power live in denial of their own existence, thus forcing impotence on the people in the face of pervasive tragedy and disaster.

    I may be too pessimistic to say the industry cannot survive another round of fines but needs every support and encouragement to weather the impact of COVID-19 which has hit humanity without mercy.

    These are not the best of times, not even for the regulator. This is why I am suggesting it draws a lesson from the wiliness of Teribogo to know that a constantly moving industry, brewing vermin on the side, needs fluid adaptation and regulation to arrest the scourge and ugliness of technology in order to give peace to a despairing people.
    Okoh Aihe writes from Abuja

  • Buhari condoles with Minister of Communication over daughter’s death

    Buhari condoles with Minister of Communication over daughter’s death

    President Muhammadu Buhari has commiserated with the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Pantami, over the passing on of his daughter, Aisha.

    Malam Garba Shehu, the president’s spokesman confirmed Buhari’s condolence message in a statement in Abuja on Tuesday.

    Shehu said that the president, who placed a call to the minister on Monday evening, condoled with all members of the family on the sad event.

    The president’s aide also quoted the him as urging the family to take comfort in the teachings of the Holy Prophet on the transient nature of life.

    Buhari prayed that Allah would accept the soul of the departed and grant her Jannah tul Firdaus.

  • Buhari’s minister loses 13-year-old daughter

    Buhari’s minister loses 13-year-old daughter

    Malam Isa Ali Pantami, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy has lost his 13-year old daughter, Aishah Isa.

    The Minister announced the passage of the Aisha on Monday evening on his Twitter handle.

    He however did not indicate the cause of the death.

    The Minister said funeral prayer for the late Aisha will be performed on Tuesday at Annur Masjeed, Wuse 2, immediately after Zuhr prayer.

    See his tweet below:

  • USSD charges: Banks owe telecoms operators N17bn

    USSD charges: Banks owe telecoms operators N17bn

    Financial Institutions, especially the banks, currently owed telecommunications operators about N17 billion in unpaid Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) rendered by them on the service providers network platforms.

    This was made known on Thursday by the Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Danbatta, during a webinar organised by the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON).

    Danbatta explained that the N17 billion accrued since the period the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Pantami directed mobile network operators (MNOs) to stop charging consumers the N4 per 20 seconds USSD charges.

    Pantami gave the order in October 2019, following serious public outcries on the matter in the country.

    His words at the time: “The attention of the Federal Ministry of Communications has been drawn to the viral text message allegedly sent by the Mobile Network Operator MTN Nigeria and other Mobile Operators notifying subscribers of a four naira (N4:00) charge per 20 seconds on USSD access to banking services from the 21st of October 2019.

    “The office of the Honourable Minister of Communications Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami FNCS, FBCS, FIIM is unaware of this development and has hereby directed the sector regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) ensures the operator suspends such plans until the Honourable Minister is fully and properly briefed”.

  • My salary, allowances as Buhari’s minister not up to what I received as lecturer in Saudi Arabia – Pantami

    My salary, allowances as Buhari’s minister not up to what I received as lecturer in Saudi Arabia – Pantami

    The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Pantami, has declared that he had not purchased property anywhere in the world since assuming office as Minister, asserting that he was motivated by patriotism to serve his country.

    He dismissed insinuations that he had procured three houses in Abuja within the period of his appointment and now.

    The Minister in a statement signed by his Media Aide, Uwa Suleiman, said his “salaries and allowances” as a serving Minister are not up to what he earned as a lecturer at the International University Madinah, Saudi Arabia.

    Dr Pantami who challenged an online publication over reports that he procured three houses since his assumed office barely a year ago, maintained that there was no iota of truth in the publication.

    The Minister maintained that he only answered a call to “serve his country as a sign of his patriotism and selfless service.”

    The statement reads: “For the purpose of setting the records straight, the Honourable Minister has not purchased a single property anywhere In the world, in the period he has been in office as a Minister. One of the apartments in the images published is one which the Honourable Minister has occupied since January 2017, more than two years before becoming a minister, while the other one is a house he rented since 17th December 2019. Two of the images are not even known to him.

    “It is worthy of note that as a serving Minister, Dr Pantami’s salaries and allowances fall below his earnings as a Professor at the International University Madinah Saudi Arabia, where he still holds the record of being the first Nigerian to lecture at that level. He only returned to Nigeria out of the zeal to contribute his quota to national development.

    “Dr Pantami is one of the few Nigerians who are driven by nothing, but an unequalled sense of patriotism and selfless service as demonstrated in his act of sacrifice, to answer the call to serve his country as a sign of his patriotism and selfless service.”

  • Telecoms: After Politics, time for Business and Return to Section 25 – Okoh Aihe

    Okoh Aihe

    The big news last week in the telecommunications industry was the reappointment of Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta as the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). In the manner of practice in this part of the world, felicitations are pouring in from far and wide because, as it is in every political office, not one person gets appointed but metaphorically, a whole village or a people.

    Let me also extend my congratulations and to wish him well in the performance of his official responsibilities from this moment going forward. If anything the industry will look forward to some level of stability as Prof. Danbatta consolidates on his efforts in the previous years. Which is why I am a little bit bemused that nobody seems to be talking about setting a fresh agenda for the EVC, instead it is a season of niceties, eulogies and composition of appellations at a time demanding very strong leadership for a fecund sector.

    I am pained to observe that much of that good development was mired in the way the news was broken, which clearly betrayed the subterranean politics that played out in the process of renewal. Ordinarily such information shouldn’t be for public consumption. But these are no ordinary times, dear friends. Every miniscule achievement in office is laced in very tasty political icing to arrest the angry attention of a frustrated people.

    The statement released by Uwa Suleiman, spokesperson to the Minister of Information and Digital Economy, stated in part: “Prof Danbatta’s reappointment was based on the recommendation of the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami), FNCS, FBCS, FIIM, in line with the Nigerian Communications Act, 2003.”

    The question is, which Act is the Minister talking about? My humble sojourn in the telecommunications industry teaches me that there is only one of such documents for the Federal Republic of Nigeria and that is the Nigerian Telecommunications Act 2003. The Act is so well packaged by professionals with hot patriotic blood running in their veins that it has remained the bedrock of a very promising industry which is not in full flight yet, no matter our claims to the contrary. This is the reason some of the developments in the telecommunications industry of late should trouble every patriot or those with some love for the industry.

    What the Act says

    This is the position of the Act in Chapter 2, Part 2, Section 8(2) on the appointment of the EVC. “The Board shall make recommendations to the President on suitably qualified persons for appointment as the Commission’s Chief Executive and Executive Commissioners and the President shall take the Commission’s recommendations into consideration for the appointment.”

    A simple observation from the foregoing is that there is no place for the Minister in the appointment process and even if his opinions were sought by the President, his opinion would not enjoy any constitutional validity. However there are more worries than a Minister trying to claim responsibility for what ordinarily is beyond his purview.

    There are issues to be addressed in the industry before returning to the hyperactive nature of a Minister that is almost making the industry a joke. The industry is fractured through the centre and whispers are becoming louder from the various stakeholders, including the Commission and the industry. There is the need for the EVC to immediately begin to mend broken fences and appropriate the strength of the Commission and the entire sector for an onward drive.

    The goings on, currently, remind me of the lyrics of a 1971 song by The Undisputed Truth titled, Smiling Faces Sometimes: “Smiling Faces Sometimes/Pretend to be your friend/Smiling faces show no traces/Of the evil that lurks within (can you dig it?).” Among regulatory agencies, the NCC stands shoulders high and can boast of highly knowledgeable individuals, some of them trained over several decades on regulatory issues. But there could be some people within the regulatory system that inadvertently carry the lyrics of the song in their hearts. No institution hits the super highway to the future with that level of fracture. The EVC should stop the drift and redirect their energies. Their knowledge is needed now, so is their strength and their commitment.

    Troubling observations

    Devoid of salt and pepper, here are some of the loud murmurs from the industry last week deserving EVC’s attention and they could as well find their way to his agenda.

    • Strong leadership that accommodates the strength of every stakeholder for industry growth, initiatives and innovation.
    • A revisit of the Spectrum Trading Guidelines which was recently suspended. Industry followers believed that the NCC had embarked on a good cause to make spectrum use more dynamic but truncated it for reasons that remain obfuscated.
    • A proper reactivation of the Infraco licenses in order to breathe new life into the industry. Proper rollout by the Infracos will enhance connectivity among operators and make them less dependent on satellite and microwave services. This, on its own, will address the elusive quality of service.
    • Noted that a major breakthrough has occurred with some of the State Governors knocking the cost of right of way (RoW) for fibre rollout across states; or a total removal thereof. Some stakeholders observe that such gains could be eroded by multiple taxation which is equally very harmful.
    • They suggest a one-stop-shop where operators could get into a state and do all their transactions in one location.
    • Baseline tariff or floor rate for data should be delivered from political equivocations and be handled professionally.
    • NCC should track the status of the Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) Bill which was in the 7th Assembly supposedly, and pursue it conclusively in order to help protect the industry.
    • They observed that what was recently called an Executive Order from the President was verbal and carries no instrument.

    A Return to Section 25(2)

    Some suggested that in order to address the foregoing frontally, the EVC should pursue a strong industry governance structure that can create a commodious traction between the industry and the regulator. They frown very strongly at recent happenings in the industry, including needless controversies, where the regulator seems embedded in the Communications Ministry.

    Such chumminess, they bemoan, can only hurt the industry and create avoidable barrier to much needed foreign direct investment (FDI). Their agonizing cry last week was an urgent return to Section 25(2) of the 2003 Act which states: “In the execution of his function and relationship with the Commission, the Minister shall at all times ensure that the independence of the Commission, in regard to the discharge of its functions and operations under this Act, is protected and not compromised in any manner whatsoever.”

    Anything short of the aforementioned will result in regulatory capture of the regulator by the Ministry and its Minster and this will not be a good testimony for a regulator that was in the days of yore a regulatory reference point to its peers across the continent and in the ITU and GSMA communities.

     

    Okoh Aihe writes from Abuja.

  • Pantami, Abike-Dabiri Saga: Again, NCC absolves Minister of involvement in office space allocation process

    Pantami, Abike-Dabiri Saga: Again, NCC absolves Minister of involvement in office space allocation process

    The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has, again, clarified that the Hon. Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, was never involved in the process of offer of office allocation to the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) at the NCC’s Communications and Digital Economy Complex located at Mbora District, Abuja, as the public is being made to believe.

    The Commission reiterated this position in a press statement signed by its Director Public Affairs, Dr. Henry Nkemadu, in which it made further clarifications to the members of public and other stakeholders on the situation.

    “For the avoidance of doubt, the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, was never involved in the offer to the office space, nor in the withdrawal of the offer for same office space. The Minister should not, therefore, be brought into the issue,” he said.

    According to Dr. Nkemadu, the decision to withdraw the offer of office space from NiDCOM was purely of the NCC, the custodian of the office complex.

    “It should, however, be made abundantly clear that the withdrawal of the offer of the office space, which was unconditionally given, in the first instance, to NiDCOM, was informed by exigencies and change in priorities within the NCC, which led to the taking back of the office space earlier allocated with intention of finding a suitable replacement for NiDCOM,” he said.

    The Commission, therefore, reiterates its confidence in the leadership, person and office of the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami.

  • Pantami vs Abike, others: Leak official documents, face dismissal, FG warns officials

    Pantami vs Abike, others: Leak official documents, face dismissal, FG warns officials

    Worried about the indiscriminate release of official documents to the public space by warring public servants under the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government the Federal Government has threatened to dismiss anyone found culpable of such embarrassing act in the civil service.

    This development is coming days after the public show of shame between the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa, and the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Pantami.

    Head of Civil Service of the Federation (HoS), Dr. Folasade Yemi-Esan, gave the warning in a circular dated May 22, 2020, made public yesterday by Olawunmi Ogunmosunle, spokesperson for the H0S.

    The circular, HCSF/109/S.1/120, was addressed to the the following: Chief of Staff to the President, Office of the Vice President, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Permanent Secretaries, and Service Chiefs/Inspector-General of Police, and ministers, among other.

    The HoS lamented the “unauthorised disclosure” of official government documents to social media platforms in recent months, saying civil servants engaged in such acts breached the provisions of the Public Service Rules nos. 030401 and 030402 and perpetrators risked being dismissed from service. She said the official documents, in some cases, were correspondences minuted on.

    “This irresponsible and reckless action is an act of serious misconduct with a penalty of dismissal from service, as provided for in Public Service Rules Nos. 030401 and 030402. In some cases, official documents that have been minuted on are also leaked. The ugly development is embarrassing to government and, therefore, not acceptable. Any public officer caught engaging in this act of serious misconduct will be severely dealt with in accordance with the provisions of the Public Service Rules. Permanent secretaries are to draw the attention of all staff to the contents of this circular and the consequences of breaking the rules,” Yemi-Esan said.