..You can’t be Minister while serving, NYSC tells Minister of Arts
Many Nigerians were not familiar with Hannatu Musawa until she was nominated by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as a Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Musawa who hails from Katsina State is a Nigerian lawyer who served as the presidential adviser on culture and entertainment economy. During the ministerial screening she could not control her emotions and broke down in tears when she appeared before the Senate. In fact, she was the ninth nominee screened by the Senate.
When she was asked to introduce herself and summarise her resume by the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, Ms Musawa began to speak about her family background and her upbringing but, at some point, betrayed her emotion and started shedding tears.
She said her father traded in Kolanut to sponsor her education before he died.
“I come from a family that struggles to make ends meet. My father sells ‘goro’ (Kolanut) to send me to school,” she said
However, Nigerians are shocked that the current Minister of Arts and culture is a corps member currently serving after absconding from the scheme in 2001 after her mobilisation to Ebonyi and relocation to Kaduna.
What NYSC Says
The Director, Press and Public Relations of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Eddy Megwa, has said that the Minister of Arts and Culture, Mrs Hannatu Musawa, who is currently doing her one-year youth service is occupying the ministerial position in breach of the NYSC Act.
Speaking to the issues, Megwa confirmed that the minister had been serving for the past eight months in the FCT.
He explained that it was against the NYSC Act for any corps member to pick up any government appointment until the one-year service was over.
He said Mrs Musawa was originally mobilised in 2001 for the youth service to Ebonyi State where she had her orientation programme but later relocated to Kaduna State to continue the programme.
He said it was when she got to Kaduna that she absconded and didn’t complete the programme.
Megwa noted that the scheme would look into the issue and take action where necessary.
Lawyers react
Reacting, Abeny Mohammed (SAN) said the action was a breach of the NYSC Act which stated that nobody would be legally employed or offer themselves for employment without doing the service and presenting the certificate or would have been exempted and had the certificate of exemption.
Mohammed said, “The situation we have at hand is that this person is still serving as a corper and she has been appointed a minister. It shows the inconsistency in our policies and disregard for our laws.”
Similarly, Femi Falana (SAN) said it was a violation of the law for anybody to still be serving in the NYSC and accept a ministerial appointment.
In a statement titled: “A Youth Corps Member is not Competent to be a Minister in Nigeria”, Falana said by virtue of Section 2 of the NYSC Act every citizen who graduated from any tertiary institution in and outside Nigeria and was not 30 years old shall be mobilised for the one-year compulsory national youth service, while any person above 30 was not eligible to participate in the service.”
Adeosun: Court says NYSC not mandatory for public office holders
A federal high court in Abuja has ruled that former minister of finance, Kemi Adeosun, had no obligation to produce a National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) certificate to enable her to hold public office in Nigeria.
In 2018, Premium Times, accused the former minister of forging her exemption certificate, a document issued to Nigerians excluded from carrying out the mandatory one-year national youth service.
Adeosun, who lived in the UK until she was 34, said she had been told she was exempted from the mandatory service because she was over 30.
The former minister in a statement in September 2018 said she was issued with a certificate that she thought was genuine.
Adeosun eventually resigned after months of speculation in local media about whether her NYSC was genuine.
What NYSC Act Says
Section 2 of the NYSC Act says every citizen who graduated from any tertiary institution in and outside Nigeria and was not 30 years old shall be mobilised for the one-year compulsory national youth service, while any person above 30 was not eligible to participate in the service.”
The situation has raised questions about the enforcement of the NYSC Act and the need for consistency and adherence to laws in the appointment of government officials. The pressure is mounting on Minister Musawa to address the situation and decide whether to continue her role as a minister while serving in the NYSC or to step down from the ministerial position.
