The Nigerian Correctional Service (NCS) has restrained men and officers over the circulation of memos and other documents with official permission on social media.
Reports gathered that the service’s memo might not be unconnected with the recent grumbling by the NCS officers in a WhatsApp group, where they accused their superiors of hijacking their welfare packages.
Insiders said the service decided to go the whole hog by ordering the officers to shut down all their WhatsApp groups.
The service warned the prison officers against “indiscriminate” use of social media or sharing the service logo, name, buildings, word, phrase, or trademark related to it on any social media handle without permission, reports said.
The message, which was sent on September 7, 2023, and had the reference number NCS115/S.38/VOL.Tvl/47, was signed by Ahmadu Adamu, the deputy controller general in charge of human resources, on behalf of the controller general. It said that the actions violated Section 25(a) and (b) of the Cybercrime Act 2015.
Mr. Adamu said the service would begin close monitoring of the social media handles of its members of staff and prosecute anyone found wanting.
“All officers and men are to stop, forthwith, the publication of any service circular, instructions, or policies not meant for the general public on Facebook, WhatsApp, or other social media handles.
“Only officers designated by law shall have the mandate to do such publication. Any other officer or men who publish, forward, or transmit any document, memo, circular, or others without prior instructions violate the provisions of Sections 1(a)(b) and 2 of the Official Secret Act and shall be punished accordingly.
“No personnel of the service should propagate, transmit, spread, or cause the publication, spreading, or circulation of such information that is false, unfounded, or without facts, or any acts of rumour mongering that contravenes the provisions in Sections 24 [1] [b] [2] [a] [c] and 27 [a] [b] of the Cybercrimes Act 2015 and Rule 030301 [a] [f], 030402 [1] [h] [o] [t] [w] of the PSR.
“No personnel should use the logo, name, buildings, word or phrase, or trademark related to the service on any social media handle without permission on Facebook groups or pages, WhatsApp groups, Telegram, X (Twitter), or any other social media handle. These acts violate the provisions of Section 25(1)(2)(a)(b) of the Cybercrime Act 2015.
“No personnel should, by any means whatever, cause, attempt to cause, or do any act calculated to cause disaffection by way of spreading malicious falsehoods, unsubstantiated stories, or baseless petitions. This act contravenes and is punishable under the provisions of Section 46(a) of the Criminal Code Act.
“Henceforth, social media handles will be closely monitored. For the avoidance of doubt, the writers of such stories, the administrators of such groups, and whomever forwarded the same will be tracked, identified, and dealt with severely in accordance with extant rules and laws.
“The service will not hesitate in making an example of anyone found culpable,” the signal said.
It explained that the directive became necessary following observations of “continuous acts of gross indiscipline” being displayed by officers and men through indiscriminate use of social media to propagate false information, rumour-mongering, false accusations, and baseless petitions.
“Furthermore, some officers and men are in the habit of sharing official documents, especially those concerning service and government policies, with friends and associates on social media platforms such as Facebook and other online media outlets. These acts by a few unscrupulous elements have continued to bring a negative image to the service.
While emphasizing that these acts contravene the ethics of the profession and the extant laws of the country, the CG warned that no officer is immune to criminal charges.
“For the avoidance of doubt, officers and men should know and keep in mind that they are bound by the laws of the service and those of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and the full extent of those laws shall come to bear when violated.
“No staff is immune to criminal charges and prosecution. It should be noted that the Official Secret Act, Data Privacy Act, Cybercrime Act, and Criminal Code Act all address the issue of libel, sedition, fake news, rumour mongering, false accusation, and defamation of character, prescribing punishments accordingly,” the signal added.
