State House – Advent Cable Network Nigeria

Disclosing Confidential Information Will Attract Penalties, Permanent Secretary Warns State House Staff

ACNN ADMIN — Wed, 28 Jul 2021 10:07:15 +0000

The Permanent Secretary, State House, Tijjani Umar on Tuesday in Abuja warned staff that disclosing confidential information without authorisation will attract penalties under the public service rules.

The Permanent Secretary stated this at the administration of Oath of Secrecy and Declaration of Secrecy to 42 staff of the State House, administered by Justice Hamza Muazu of the FCT High Court.

The Permanent Secretary explained that the oaths were administered to staff members who handle classified documents.

‘‘We discovered that due to deployment of officers and retirement a number of our staff 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,’’ he said.

The Permanent Secretary, who disclosed that the exercise will be continuous, expressed delight that so far the State House has not recorded any breach of information.

‘‘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,’’ he said.

Earlier 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, took the staff through sensitization, explaining the essence of the Official Secrets Act, 1962.

‘‘The essence of this exercise is to ensure the safety and security of government information, documents and facilities,’’ he said.

Patience Tilley-Gyado
Assistant Director Information
State House
July 27, 2021

We Seek Amendment On Impeachment Procedures-State Assembly Speakers

ACNN ADMIN — Fri, 04 Jun 2021 10:33:48 +0000

The Conference of Speakers of State Legislatures says it is embarrassing to impeach speakers without giving them fair hearing.

The Conference of Speakers of State Legislatures in Nigeria has sought an amendment to impeachment procedures of Speakers of State Houses of Assembly.

The Speaker of Niger State House of Assembly, Abdullahi Wuse, made the call in Abuja on Thursday at the ongoing national public hearing on review of the 1999 Constitution.

Mr Abdullahi, who spoke on behalf of the body, said there was a need to strengthen legislative procedures of removing a speaker.

He said the process of removing a speaker of a house of assembly without fair hearing was an embarrassing situation that had always played out in Nigeria.

“The conference is proposing an amendment to section 92(c) of the constitution.

“The speakers deserve fair hearing and not for those members to come up and remove the speaker without hearing from the speaker.

“So, we are calling for the procedure where the speaker should be heard and the allegation properly investigated and, if found indicted, then a speaker can be removed.”

He also said the current standard on the issue of financial autonomy had brought untold hardship to people, hence, the proposed amendment to section 123(3) to reflect implementation of financial autonomy.

“We have inserted the issue of the allocation committee for each state.

“We also provided how the accounts of the judiciary and state assemblies can be run.

“This essentially is the amendment that is sought for in section 123(4) by the conference of speakers, it is essentially to strengthen that institution.

“In addition to that, we have also called for amendment of part 2 of the third schedule of the constitution where you have state executive bodies.

“Because the state Houses of Assembly Service Commission cannot be included in view of the need to have autonomy in the state assemblies.

“The State Houses of Assembly Service Commission needs to be included in that schedule where you have state executive bodies.

“We have also proposed an amendment to chapter 1 part 2, section 5 of the Constitution calling for state police.’’

He also said the conference was proposing devolution of power to state and local governments on issues relating to mineral resources, mining, geological survey and aviation, among others.

According to him, the conference believes that there is a need to strengthen the local government administration. This, he said, would enhance service delivery at the grassroots.

A former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili, in her presentation, called for a single issue amendment to the constitution to allow for a referendum by Nigerians for a deliberation of a new constitution.

“We need to centre the citizens in our democracy, we need to call for a deep sense of conversation,” Mrs Ezekwesili said.

Source: Premium Times

FG TO COMMERCIALISE STATE HOUSE MEDICAL CENTRE

ACNN NEWS — Thu, 05 Oct 2017 13:44:16 +0000

The management of the State House Medical Centre is seeking to be commercialised to offer qualitative and efficient services.

The hospital currently offers free medical services to patients at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory.

Permanent Secretary, State House, Mr Jalal Arabi, revealed the decision on Wednesday in a statement signed by the Deputy Director of Information at the State House, Atta Esa.

According to the statement, Arabi was reacting to a recent report on the state of the medical centre.

He said the management would “among other things seek the commercialisation of the centre to boost its revenue and augment the appropriation it receives from the government in the quest for a better qualitative service”.

The Permanent Secretary noted that the hospital is the only health centre in Abuja where patients are not required to pay for consultation.

He compared the facility to other government hospitals in the nation’s capital, saying the free services they offer were already affecting the grant they receive from the government.

“In other government hospitals in Abuja, patients are required to pay for consultation, treatment, laboratory tests and others but that has not been the case with the State House Medical Centre.

“The centre offers free services; nobody pays a kobo for hospital card, consultations or prescriptions and this has taken a toll on the subvention the centre receives from the government.

“We have some of the best equipment in the country. For instance, to maintain the MRI and other scan machines, we spend close to N2 million monthly; yet we do not charge a dime for those who require MRI scans in the clinic,” Arabi said.

He was, however, hopeful that the decision would ensure that those eligible to use the clinic are NHIS compliant whose Health Maintenance Organisations (HMOs) are domiciled in the centre.

‘‘We have already created a NHIS desk at the clinic where patients will be required to authenticate their profile. If their HMOs are registered in other hospitals they will be required to transfer to the centre.

‘‘This is another way through which we can boost revenue generation at the hospital and this has started yielding results because the stark reality is there is no free lunch anywhere,” he said.