By Nengu GREEN
As controversy continues to rage on the propriety or otherwise over the Minister of Arts and Culture, Hannatu Musawa, currently serving as corps member, the Federal Government has maintained stoic silence on the matter.
Musawa, it has emerged, is presently serving as a corps member of the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, in the office.
The NYSC Director of Press and Public Relations, Eddy Megwa, admitted this to Daily Trust, last week, stressing that the minister has been serving for the past eight months in Abuja.
The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, stirred the hornet’s nest, last Thursday, when it alleged that Ms. Musawa was a serving member of the NYSC.
A statement by HURIWA disclosed Musawa dumped her NYSC scheme in Ebonyi state, many years back, a claim that has been confirmed to be true by Mr Megwa.
The NYSC spokesperson explained that the minister was originally mobilised in 2001 for the youth service to Ebonyi state, but redeployed to Kaduna to continue the program before she absconded and did not complete the program.
Since the expose, opinions have been divided on the issue.
While the NYSC says it was a breach of the NYSC Act for any corps member to pick up government appointment until the one year of service was over, some lawyers have said there was nothing wrong with it.
Dr. Abiodun Layonu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, is of the opinion that since the constitutional requirement for those aspiring to become members of the House of Representatives is a school certificate, the requirement for ministerial nominees should not be more than a school certificate.
“To be appointed as a minister, the Constitution prescribes the same requirements for somebody contesting for the House of Representatives. The constitutional requirement for being able to contest an election as a House of Representatives candidate does not require a university degree. So, if the requirement for being a member of the House of Representatives and governor is a school certificate, then one will say that to be a minister, the requirement should not be more than a school certificate,” the senior lawyer explained.
However, a human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana SAN condemned Musawa’s appointment, stating that a serving youth corps member is not competent to be a minister in Nigeria.
Falana argued that any person who did not participate in the national youth service is not qualified to be a member of the House of Representatives, adding that the Constitution appears to have set the same standard for those to be appointed as ministers.
He submitted that Section 147(6) of the Constitution states that no person shall be appointed as a Minister of the Government of the Federation unless he is qualified for election as a member of the House of Representatives.
He said: “By virtue of section 2 of the National Youth Service Act, every citizen who has graduated at any tertiary institution in and outside Nigeria and is not 30 years old shall be mobilised for the one-year compulsory national youth service. Any person above 30 is not eligible to participate in the national youth service.
“Section 13 of the Act provides that any person who fails to report for service in the service corps in the manner directed by the Directorate or who refuses to make himself available for service in the service corps is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine of N2, OOO or to imprisonment for a term of 12 months or to both such fine and imprisonment.
Efforts to get the minister to react to the saga was unsuccessful as messages to her known mobile number were not replied to as well as the fact that she is yet to name a spokesperson.
