NYSC: No Law Has Been Violated In Hannatu Musawa’s Appointment – Onoh Fumes

Former presidential campaign spokesman of President Bola Tinubu, Dr. Josef Onoh, has said that no law has been violated in appointing a corp member, Hannatu Musawa, as the Minister for Arts, Culture and Creative Economy.

Naija News reports that the minister had come under heavy backlash for emerging as a serving minister without concluding her National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).

However, Onoh said Musawa had not broken any law by accepting to serve as a minister while still serving the country.

He pointed out that the constitution is clear on what the NYSC can do, which is to remobilize her anytime in the future if she chooses not to serve now.

According to Onoh, “Now that she is a minister under public scrutiny, it doesn’t matter if she wrote to the NYSC about her appointment or not. What the Scheme can do is cancel her service year, so whenever she finishes as a minister, she can come back for remobilization.

“She’s already appointed as a minister even though it’s presumed she is still serving, and so the maximum the NYSC can do is not to issue her a certificate at the end of her service year. By accepting to be a minister, she has indirectly agreed to be remobilized at any time in the future.”

Speaking further, Onoh noted that Musawa did not tender her NYSC certificate and was not faulted for not meeting the constitutional requirement of being a minister.

He opined that political officeholders should stick to tendering the minimum requirements as stated in the Constitution to put an end to Nigerians’ obsession with certificate dramas.

He urged those displeased with the development to stop trying to score cheap political goals and table their grievances in a court of law.

“In fact, it’s high time all political office holders simply stick to tendering the minimum requirements as stated in the Constitution to put an end to all these academic and certificate dramas that Nigerians have become obsessed with.

“Nigerians have placed glorification of certificates and bogus qualifications above service delivery, above competence, above advancement.

“Majority of our foreign contractors don’t possess bogus qualifications but make up same in experience, and today they are in our country controlling our PhD holders who only speak good English but lack the technical experience.

“So the hullaballoo of accusing our DSS of not conducting proper screening on her is also not a constitutional requirement either, although the DSS will, in some cases, screen and issue security reports and advice on persons of interest, discreetly and professionally done.

“It’s at the discretion of the President to heed the advice or not. Hence, we must still commend the DSS and all other security personnel in our country for their sacrifices and not attempt to malign their efforts to score cheap political goals. If any Nigerian feels their job is easy, don’t be a coward; be brave enough to enrol.

“The disgruntled opposition elements against Hannatu can go to court and not come to the media, trying to score cheap political points on a non-issue,” he added.