Federal Government Prohibits Use of Personal Emails for Official Duties

The Federal Government has instructed civil servants not to use private email accounts for official duties and to transfer all government communication to approved institutional platforms.

The announcement was made in Abuja by the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Didi Esther Walson-Jack, during a digital transformation summit held to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Galaxy Backbone.

More than 115,000 official GovMail accounts have been activated by the government to keep communication within the federal civil service secure, professional and easy to track, Walson-Jack said.

“The government should stop using personal email services or informal channels that are hard to track records,” she said.

The Head of service said official information must remain on government systems even when an officer moves on.

This, she said, will help protect important records and stop the loss of government information tied to individual workers.

The Head of Service further disclosed that the Federal Government has successfully achieved a major target of completing the digitalisation of work processes in all the 38 federal ministries and extra-ministerial departments ahead of the December, 2025 deadline.

“This development is proof that reforms can succeed when there is clear leadership and commitment from government institutions,” she said.

She said the success proved the civil service could adapt to modern ways of working.

Walson-Jack said that previously government files could be easily delayed, misplaced or caught up in long approval processes.

She said the move to digital systems now makes it easier to track documents, improve accountability and measure progress in government operations.

Walson-Jack said the paperless civil service initiative is intended to boost government efficiency by cutting delays and unnecessary bureaucracy, increasing transparency and enabling faster retrieval and processing of records.