Controversy As New Minister Of Arts And Culture, Hannatu Musawa Is Reported To Be A Serving NYSC Member

 There is a controversy over the appointment of Hannatu Musawa as Minister of Arts and Culture by President Tinubu as there are strong reports she is a serving corps member.

The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), while decriying the suitability and legality of appointing Hannatu Musawa by Tinubu questioned the appropriateness of the Nigerian Senate in allowing her as a ministerial nominee, to ‘bow and go’ despite the controversy surrounding her NYSC certificate.

HURIWA in a statement alleged that the Minister abandoned her NYSC in Ebonyi State some years but later showed interest in 2023 to complete it.

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The group said she later was mobilised in 2023 and then posted to a Law firm in Abuja, where she currently serving Corps member.

 The group thus expressed it's reservations over the scrutiny method conducted by the Department of State Services (DSS).

 

“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 offence “and liable on conviction to a fine of N4,OOO or to imprisonment for a term of two years or to both such fine and imprisonment,” HURIWA said.

HURIWA's National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, in a statement noted that the Minister of Arts was actually a serving NYSC member somewhere in Wuse II, Abuja in the year 2023.

Onwubiko said it is despicable particularly with what turned out to be a routine with the way Senate, told Musawa to “take a bow and go” without being asked any questions about her academic qualifications, including the controversy surrounding her NYSC certificate.

According to HURIWA, credible sources within the NYSC confirmed that the minister is actually 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.

The rights group recalled that in 2020, the 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 reason for her rejection.