Oath of Secrecy in Public Service: The Stumbling Block of Freedom of Information
Public Servants are often referred to as the employees of government who are responsible for the working and implementation of government policies. And put objectively, there are tendencies for redundancy in public service if there are no guiding rules and regulations for checkmating the activities of public servants.
However, what about the Oath of Secrecy?
Oath of Secrecy is part of the civil service tradition. Public servants take an oath of office allegiance before their assumption of duty because the government wants disciplined, loyal, honest and more like robotic (zombie) workers. Unfortunately, the secrecy act has led to intractable opacity in governance, as government spendings are done in utmost secrecy.
In 1993, lots of work was put in place to make information accessible to citizens by CSOs like Media Rights Agenda (MRA). The Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) proposed a Freedom of Information Bill, which was later signed into law by former President Goodluck Jonathan. The Freedom of Information Act contains far-reaching provisions capable of transforming the culture of secrecy in governance that has, until now, been existing in Nigeria’s public institutions. The cardinal purpose for which the FOI Act was passed is to enable the public to access certain government information.
The culture of secrecy of government information has become entrenched among both public servants and the Nigerian public. The culture of secrecy makes the notion of public scrutiny an alien concept. As such, changing the mindset of public officers and even private sector managers from a culture of secrecy to openness remains the biggest roadblock to implementing the FOI Act.
There are lots of obstacles affecting the implementation of the FOI act including lack of political will and non-domestication of the FOI act at the state level. But the main obstacle is the existence of subsisting laws, which conflict with the FOI Act––such as the Official Secret Act, the Evidence Act which is overridden by section 27 and 28 of the FOI acts.
To get the FOI act implemented at all levels, the civil service needs cleansing. Subsisting laws like the Oath of Secrecy must be abolished while public servants are re-orientated on the FOI act. Until these laws are repealed or amended, they will continue to hinder the effective implementation of the FOI Act.
Article by Tolutope Agunloye
