Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), has decried the suitability and legality of appointing Hannatu Musawa, a serving National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member as a minister by President Bola Tinubu.
HURIWA questioned the appropriateness of the Nigerian Senate in allowing Musawa as a ministerial nominee, to ‘bow and go’ despite the controversy surrounding her NYSC certificate.
The Rights group alleged that Hannatu Musawa abandoned her NYSC in Ebonyi State some years ago but later showed interest in completing it during which she was mobilized in 2023 and posted to a Law firm in Abuja, where she is a serving Corps member before Tinubu was nominated her.
HURIWA, therefore, expressed concern over the kind of scrutiny being conducted by the Department of State Services (DSS), so much so that it wasn’t disclosed that Musawa was a serving Youth Corps member.
“Section 13 of the National Youths Service Corps Act stipulates that any Nigerian graduate below 30 who refuses to make himself/herself available for the compulsory one-year service has committed an offense “and is liable on conviction to a fine of N4, OOO, or imprisonment for a term of two years or both such fine and imprisonment,” HURIWA said.
A statement by the National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, noted that the Minister of Arts was a serving NYSC member somewhere in Wuse II, Abuja in the year 2023.
HURIWA said that credible sources within the NYSC confirmed that Musawa, who is now a minister is a Youth Corps member.
“The details of the NYSC posting of Hannatu Musawa are as follows: FC/23A/505 and Posted to Onyilokwu Onyilowa and company Suit number undisclosed purposely (paint house) old Banex Plaza,” it said.
HURIWA noted that in 2020, the Ahmed Lawan-led 9th Senate rejected Musawa’s nomination by former President Muhammadu Buhari as the Commissioner representing the North West at the National Pension Commission (PENCOM), saying, “Her failure to submit her National Youth Service (NYSC) certificate was cited as the reason for her rejection.
