The Director General of Archives has been entrusted with the responsibility to supervise and coordinate all operations connected with the Administration, Management, Preservation etc., of Public Records as laid down in The Public Records Act. These duties involve :-
- supervision, management and control of the Archives.
- acceptance for deposit of public records of permanent nature after such period as may be prescribed;
- custody, use and withdrawal of public records;
- arrangement, preservation and exhibition of public records;
- preparation of inventories, indices, catalogues and other reference media of public records;
- analyzing, developing, promoting and coordinating the standards, procedures and the techniques for improvement of the records management system;
- ensuring the maintenance, arrangement and security of public records in the Archives and in the offices of the records creating agency;
- promoting utilization of available space and maintenance of equipments for preserving public records;
- tendering advice to records creating agencies on the compilation, classification and disposal of records and application of standards, procedures and techniques of records management;
- survey and inspection of public records;
- organizing training programmes in various disciplines of archives administration and records management;
- accepting records from any private source;
- regulating access to public records;
- receiving records from defunct bodies and making arrangement for securing public records in the event of national emergency;
- receiving reports on records management and disposal practices from the records officer;
- providing authenticated copies of, or extracts from, public records;
- destroying or disposal of public records;
- obtaining on lease or purchasing or accepting as gift any document of historical or national importance.