AS A MATTER OF LAW: FREEDOM OF INFO ACT EXAMINED BY DON requested to apply a charge higher than what has beencharged initially. G. Refusal of Disclosure of Record The Head of a government or public institution may refuseto disclose any record that is sought for provided such will beinjurious to the conduct of international affairs or the defenceof the Federal Public of Nigeria. However the court has theright to override the refusal. Some of the important recordsthat Head of the government or any public institution mayrefuse disclosure according to Section 14 of the Act includeinformation that will;1. interfere with law enforcement andinvestigation2. interfere with administrative proceedings of government or public institution3. preventing a person from fair trail4. disclosure of a confidential source.5. information that will facilitate the commissionof an offence.The Heads of a government or public institution mayrefuse to disclose any economic interest of the Federal Publicof Nigeria. Section 15 of the Act clearly pointed out that suchinformation not be disclose are;1. Trade secret, financial, commercial or technicalinformation that belongs to the government andhas a substantial economic values or likely tohave value.2. Material/information that is prejudice tocompetitive position with government3. Materials injurious to the financial interest of the Federal Public of Nigeria either Federal,state or local government.The Freedom of Information Act allows for the disclosureor personal information about patients, students, residents,other individuals receiving social, medical, educational,vocational, financial, supervisory or custodian care or services directly from Federal agencies or government or public institution. Also, the Head of a government or publicinstitution may refuse to disclose any record applied for thatcontains information pertaining to;a. Test questions, scoring keys and other examinationdata used to administer academic examination or determine the qualifications of an application for alicence or employment. b. Architects and engineer’s plans for building thatmay constitute security risk.Finally, the freedom of information Act spelled out anyrecord in the custody of government or public institution iskept by that institution under security classifications or isclassified document within the official secret Act does not preclude it from being disclosed pursuant to an applicationfor disclosure thereof under the provisions of the Act but inevery case the head of that government or public institution towhich an application for such record is made shall decidewhether such record is of a type referred to in sections 14 to21 of this freedom of information Act.In pursuant of the understanding of the Freedom of Information Act 2011, Administrative manager are expectedto be remained by what is classified document. With proper understanding of that, it will give Administrative managersthe zeal to perform their administrative responsible with agood understanding of what classified document is. H. Office Security Management Classified documents are documents regarded as top secret,secret, confidential, staff confidential and restricteddocuments. Such documents must be carefully handled byAdministrative Managers under their custody. This is because the contents of such documents/records should not be disclosed to an unauthorized person. Such disclosure willcause embarrassment to the organization or even the nation.Administrative managers who are directly responsible for handling of such documents are to be trained and inducted totake or swear an “oath of secrecy”. I. Handling and Conveyance of Classified Documents1) Confidential Letters Classified document such as “confidential letter” if it is to be delivered by hand must be sealed in an envelop, stampedwith appropriate grading in Red Capital Letter at the Top and Bottom Centre . The envelope must be wax-sealed with officestamp at both envelop ends and must be registered in thedispatch book and delivered to the addressee. 2) Secret Letter A secret letter is also handled as confidential letter. Onlythat a secret letter is further enclosed in a suitable addressedenvelop with reference number and date inserted on the righthand top centre of the envelop. The letter must be wax-sealedwith official stamp and enclosed in another envelop with theaddress of the addressee(s) entered in a dispatch book andsent to the addressee by hand. Where confidential or secretletters are to be delivered by post, then the posting of confidential or secret letter must pass through the same procedure as by hand. The slight difference is that a receipt isobtained and pasted on the dispatch book if any and enteredinto the dispatch book or the receipt is pasted on the file or office copy of the letter. If the letter is to be delivered withinthe country, it is accompanied by a responsible senior administrative officer either by car or by air (plane). Thedispatch of confidential documents to another country isdone through what is referred to as “Diplomatic Mail Bag”.Administrative managers or officers must ensure noclassified documents are left on their table while they are outof the office. All classified documents must be kept in a fire proof cabinet under lock and key.On the issue of destruction of classified documentsofficially, this is done by shredding burning or both and asenior administrative manager or officer must witness the burning exercise to confirm that no documents is leftun-burnt. J. E-Mail Office Security Threats There exist numbers of threats using email in thetransmission of classified documents [11], [12].The threatsare;1. Sensitive information on mail server may beread by unauthorized persons or changed in anunauthorized manner.2. Classified information transmitted unencrypted between mail server and client user may beintercepted. 398 International Journal of e-Education, e-Business, e-Management and e-Learning, Vol. 1, No. 5, December 2011 3. Classified information with email messagesmay be altered or tempered with at certain pointof communication between the organizations(sender) and the recipients.4. Unauthorized persons may gain access toclassified documents within an organizationnetwork via successful attack on the mail server and thus change the information.5. Mis-configuration of the organization network may allow unauthorized or malicious person touse the organization mail server to sendclassified information not authorized.[12]6. Organization may send classified informationvia email and that could expose theorganization to legal action when uncovered byother organization or affected persons. K. The Safety of Classified Documents or Information To ensure the safety of classified documents or information, Administrative managers must;1. Never hand over letters or files or any recordsthat is a classified document to messenger or office clerk unless they are locked in a securityoutfit or enclosed in a sealed double envelops.2. Any official that is authorized excludingmessengers and other junior officers cantransmit classified documents by hand.3. Classified documents for addresses outside thesame locality should be dispatched through theDiplomatic mail bag or by courier.4. Administrative managers must be givenadequate training in the registry duties andrecord keeping.5. To ensure that records are properly kept, thereshould be no tempering with records. Norecords manipulation as, record keeping is amust in order to ensure the ultimate security of the records. Records discrepancies need to beharmonized, records must be given to thosewho apply for it in a prescribed standard formmeant for records to be kept. Administrativemanagers must carefully plan and address thesecurity aspect of deployment of classifieddocument via the emails.6. Administrative managers must ensure securitymanagement practices and controls whenmaintaining and operating a secure mail server.7. Administrative manager should ensure thatmail server operating system is deployed,configured and managed to meet the securityrequirements of the organization.8. Administrative manager should consider theimplementation of cryptographic technologiesto perfect user’s authentication and email data.9. Administrative managers must ensure thatmaintenance of security of mail servers is acontinuous one.IV. F REEDOM OF I NFORMATION A CT AND ITS I MPLICATIONFOR R ECORDS AND O FFICE S ECURITY M ANAGEMENT The implication of Freedom of Information Act on recordsand security management is that it has given the needed protection against public officers by stating thatnotwithstanding anything contained in the Criminal Code,Penal Code, the Official Secrets Act, or any other enactment,no civil or criminal proceedings shall be made against anygovernment or public institution, or against any personacting on behalf of the government or public institution, andno proceedings should be made against the FederalGovernment, state or Local Government or any institution.Thereof for the disclosure in good faith of any record or any part of a recovered pursuant to this Act, for any consequencesthat flow from that disclosure, or the failure to give any noticerequired under this Act, if care is to give the required notice.One area of worry in this Act, it did not specify who iseligible to get records from public institution or government.Does it mean, a man on the street can just apply for information from government or public institution and get iteasily and free from interference. Otherwise, you cannot getinformation on Abiola/Yar-Adua death. There are certainofficial records that are difficult to get because officialrecords are regulated such as secret file/confidential file,medical records, bank records, etc.V. M ETHODS AND R ESULTS A survey research design was adopted. The information onFreedom of Information Act 2011 were obtained through aquestionnaire tagged FOI Act 2001, Records and securitymanagement questionnaire developed by the researchers witha credibility coefficient of 7.5 A total of 120 administrativemanagers in both the public and private sector of the Nigeriawere sampled and 100 questionnaires were fully returned andused for the analysis. The paper used both primary andsecondary sources. The data collected were subjected to adescriptive statistics of simple percentages and the results areas follows: TABLE I: F REQUENCY D ISTRIBUTION ON FOI A CT 2001 R ECORDS AND S ECURITY M ANAGEMENT . S/No. STATEMENT YESNO 1Are you aware of the Nigeria freedomof information Act 201177 332Does the Nigeria FOI Act 2011guarantees actual freedom of information?35 653Do you agree that the Nigerian FOI Act2011 provides security to recordskeeping ?35 654Records Management in Nigeria asstill poor inspite of the Nigeria FOI Act201181 195Do you agree that the Nigeria FOI Act2011 is expected to change the attitudeof Nigeria toward record keeping?73 27 TABLE I above presented a frequency distribution on Nigeria FOI Act 2011, records and security management in Nigeria. The analysis revealed that about 77% of therespondents expressed that they are aware of the Nigeria FOIAct 2011. However, 65% of the respondents disagreed thatthe Nigeria FOI Act 2011 guarantees actual freedom of information similarly, 65% of the respondents were of theopinion that the Nigeria FOI Act 2011 cannot providesecurity to records. On the other hand, 81% of the 399 International Journal of e-Education, e-Business, e-Management and e-Learning, Vol. 1, No. 5, December 2011 respondents believed that records management in Nigeria isstill poor inspite of the Nigeria FOI Act 2011. Finally 73% of the respondents also believed that the Nigeria FOI Act 2011is expected to change the attitude of Nigerians towards recordkeeping.VI. C ONCLUSION Fortunate or unfortunately, Administrative Managers arenot reputed to be highly principled, disciplined and ethical inthe discharge of their official record keeping and officesecurity management. Administrative Managers deals withhuman and financial information that require proper recordsin terms of security often referred to as classified document.It will be unreasonable to expect the AdministrativeManagers to be without blame in either receiving, issuing andkeeping of official records. Administrative Managers arecatalyst for change if the freedom of Information should befollowed strictly according to the law. Any AdministrativeManager who wants to achieve success in his career mustadhere strictly to information security in line with theFreedom of Information Act. R EFERENCES [1] T. Momoh, Nigerian Media Law and Ethics/ Efua Media Associates,Lagos, 2002.[2] T. Onagoruwa. New Directions for Journalism in Nigeria Ibadan: NUJNT, 1985[3] S. Alabi. “Press Freedom: Background, Legal Bases and Constraints ”UNILAG Communication Review, 4 (1), 52-64, 2003[4] F. R Omu. Press and Politics in Nigeria: 1880 – 1937, Longman,London, 1978[5] R. A. Akinfeleye and Okoye. K (ed), Issues in Nigerian Media History:1900 – 2000 A.D. Malthouse Lagos 2003[6] I. Daramola. “Press Freedom: Legal Bases and Constraints in Americaand Nigeria,” in R.A. Akinfeleye, and I. Okoye (eds), Issues in Nigerian Media History, Malthouse, 153-166, Lagos, 2003[7] Lagos Times and Gold Coast Colony Advertiser of March 9, 1881[8] E. Malemi, Mass Media Law: Cases and Materials , Grace PublishersInc. Lagos, 1999[9] Freedom of Information Act 2011. Nigeria[10] docs.google/viewer [11] csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-45-version2/SP800-45v2. Ayuba A. Aminu was on 1 st October 1963. Heholds B.Sc (Hons) Business Management from theUniversity of Maiduguri, Master of BusinessAdministration from Ahmadu Bello University,Zaria and Ph.D in Management studies fromUsumanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto- Nigeria.He ia a member, The Academy of Management Nigeria and Fellow, Institute of RegisteredAdministrative Managers of Nigeria and Instituteof Public Diplomacy and Management. Prof.Aminu is currently the Dean, Faculty of Management Sciences,University of Maiduguri-Nigeria. Bulama Kagu holds B.Ed (Hons), M.Ed and Ph.D in Education from theUniversity of Maidugri. He is the Head, Department of Education and SubDean, School of Postgraduate Studies, University of Maiduguri. Y. Y. Malgwi is an Accountant by Profession. He holds B.Sc (Hons)Accountancy and Postgraduate Diploma in Accountancy from the Universityof Maiduguri. A certified National Account and Deputy Bursa (FinalAccounts), University of Maiduguri. Mal. Ibrahim Danjuma is currently a Ph.D student at Faculty of Management and Human Resource Development,Universiti Teknologi, Malaysi
Posted on: Thu, 11 Jul 2013 18:03:53 +0000
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