The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has said the Minister of Arts and Culture, Hannatu Musawa’s ministerial appointment is a breach of the NYSC Act.
The NYSC confirmed that Musawa has been serving in the FCT for the past eight months.
The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has said the Minister of Arts and Culture, Hannatu Musawa’s ministerial appointment is a breach of the NYSC Act.
Musawa, alongside 44 other ministers-designate, was sworn into office by President Bola Tinubu on Monday, August 21, 2023.
However, no sooner she took the appointment than rumors started swirling around that the minister was currently in the process of completing her national service.
Meanwhile, as reported by Daily Trust, the Director, of Press and Public Relations of the NYSC, Eddy Megwa, has confirmed that the new minister of Arts and Culture had been serving for the past eight months in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
In an interview with the paper, Megwa explained that the NYSC Act frowned against any corps member picking up a government appointment.
He revealed that Musawa was originally mobilized to serve in Ebonyi State in 2001, and she had her three-week orientation program there before relocating to Kaduna State to continue the program.
On getting to Kaduna, Musawa absconded and failed to complete the NYSC program, Megwa added.
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The NYSC official said the scheme would look into the issue and take action where necessary.
Reacting to the development, human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), said in a statement that it was a violation of the law for anybody to accept a ministerial appointment while still on national service.
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 mobilized for the one-year compulsory national youth service, while any person above 30 was not eligible to participate in the service.”
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