Former presidential campaign spokesman of President Bola Tinubu, Dr. Josef Onoh, has said that no law has been violated in appointing a corps member, Hannatu Musawa as the minister for Arts, Culture and Creative Economy.
Her appointment as a serving minister without concluding her National Youth Service Corps, (NYSC) has stirred a lot of controversy.
Rising up in her defense, Onoh said Musawa has not broken any law by accepting to serve as a minister while still serving the country as a corper.
He pointed out that the constitution is clear on what the NYSC can do, which is to remobilize her anytime in the future if she chose not to serve now.
According to Onoh,“Now that she is a minister under public scrutiny, it doesn’t matter if she wrote to the NYSC about her appointment or not. What the Scheme can do is to cancel her service year; and so whenever she finishes as a minister, she can come back for remobilization.
“She’s already appointed as a minister even though it’s presumed she is still serving and so the maximum the NYSC can do is not to issue her a certificate at the end of her service year. By accepting to be a minister, she has indirectly agreed to be remobilized at any time in the future.”
Speaking further, Onoh noted that Musawa did not tender her NYSC certificate and was not faulted for not meeting the constitutional requirement of being a minister
He opined that political office holders should stick to tendering the minimum requirements as stated in the Constitution to put an end to Nigerians obsession with certificate dramas.
“She’s already appointed as a minister even though it’s presumed she is still serving and so the maximum the NYSC can do is not to issue her a certificate at the end of her service year. By accepting to be a minister, she has indirectly agreed to be remobilized at any time in the future.”
Onoh noted that Musawa did not tender her NYSC certificate and was not faulted for not meeting the constitutional requirement of being a minister
He added that political office holders should stick to tendering the minimum requirements as stated in the Constitution to put an end to Nigerians obsession with certificate dramas.
He urged those displeased with the development to stop trying to score cheap political goals and table their grievances in a court of law.
“In fact, it’s high time all political office holders simply stick to tendering the minimum requirements as stated in the Constitution to put an end to all these academic and certificate dramas that Nigerians have become obsessed with.
“Nigerians have placed glorification of certificates and bogus qualifications above service delivery, above competence, above advancement.
“Majority of our foreign contractors don’t possess bogus qualification but make up same in experience and today they are in our country controlling our Ph.D holders who only speak good English but lack technical experience.
“So the hullaballoo of accusing our DSS of not conducting proper screen on her is also not a constitutional requirement either. Although the DSS will in some cases screen and issue security reports and advise on persons of interest; discreetly and professionally done.
“It’s at the discretion of the President to heed the advise or not. Hence we must still commend the DSS and all other security personnel in our country for their sacrifices and not attempt to malign their efforts trying to score cheap political goals. If any Nigerian feels their job is easy, don’t be a coward, be brave enough to enroll.
“The disgruntled opposition elements against Hannatu can go to court and not to come to the media, trying to score cheap political points on a non-issue,” he added.