The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has called out Hannatu Musawa, the Minister of Arts and Culture for breaking the law by holding a political office while still completing her one-year mandated youth service.
The NYSC Spokesperson, Eddy Megwa made the call on Friday while confirming that Musawa has been serving for the past eight months in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Megwa said, “According to the NYSC Act, no corps member can take a government job until they complete the one-year service.”
He claimed that Musawa had transferred from Ebonyi State to Kaduna State after being initially assigned there for her youth service in 2001 because she “absconded and didn’t complete the programme.”
Also speaking on the development, Femi Falana (SAN), a human rights lawyer said that it is illegal for anyone to obtain a ministerial job while still completing their NYSC service.
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.
Also speaking, a legal expert, Abeny Mohammed, said Musawa’s action is a “breach of the NYSC Act,” which requires completion of the service or an exemption certificate for legal employment.
Mohammed said, “The situation we have at hand is that this person is still serving as a copper, and she has been appointed a minister. It shows the inconsistency in our policies and disregard for our laws.”
