Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has decried the suitability and legality of appointing Barrister Hannatu Musawa, who they said is a serving National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member, as a minister by President Bola Tinubu.
HURIWA questioned the appropriateness of the Senate in allowing Musawa, as a ministerial nominee, to ‘bow and go’ in spite of the controversy surrounding her NYSC certificate.
The rights group alleged that Musawa abandoned her NYSC in Ebonyi State some years ago but later showed interest in completing it during which she was mobilised in 2023 and posted to a Law firm in Abuja, where she is as a serving Corps member beforee President Tinubu nominated her.
HURIWA, therefore, expressed concern over the kind of scrutiny being conducted by the Department of State Services (DSS) that it was not disclosed that Musawa was a serving 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 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.
In a statement, HURIWA’s National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko noted that the Minister of Art, Culture and the Creative Economy was a serving NYSC member somewhere in Wuse II, Abuja.
It described the development as “despicable”, particularly with what turned out to be a routine with the Godswill Akpabio-led Senate, in which Musawa was asked to ‘take a bow and go’ without being asked any questions about her academic qualifications, including the controversy surrounding her NYSC certificate.
“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 ninth Senate rejected Musawa’s nomination by former President Muhammadu Buhari as the Commissioner representing the North West at the National Pension Commission, adding that “her failure to submit her NYSC certificate was cited as the reason for her rejection.
A lawyer, Victor Giwa said the minister should be in her Place of Primary Assignment (PPA) if she was serving.
He said: “If it is true that she is serving, she is not meant to hold public service at this time. In as much as she has enrolled to serve, everything she should be doing through her PPA. In fact, she ought to be in her PPA if it is true. I think this should have been spotted during the screening”.
