Barely a week after former Minister of Finance Kemi Adeosun
resigned after she owned up to been in possession of a forged NYSC dischage
certiticate, another Minister in the cabinet of President Buhari has been
accused of forging his NYSC certicate.
According to a new report by Premiumtimes, Minister of
Communication, Adebayo Shittu, allegedly failed to participate in the NYSC
scheme despite graduating from the then University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo
University) at age 25. Read the report as Published by Premumtimes below
Another minister serving in President Muhammadu Buhari’s
cabinet has been found to have skipped the mandatory national youth service
scheme, an offence that may see him lose his position and earn him jail term.
The Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu, failed to
participate in the NYSC scheme despite graduating from the then University of
Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) at age 25, PREMIUM TIMES can
authoritatively report
The revelation about Mr. Shittu, who is currently angling to
become Oyo State governor, is coming to light about a week after Kemi Adeosun
was compelled to step down from her post as Nigeria’s finance minister after
this medium reported that she skipped national service and then procured a fake
exemption certificate to cover her tracks.
Months of discreet checks at the NYSC headquarters showed
that the communications minister did not present himself for service after
graduation and is yet to do so till date.
Contacted Tuesday, Mr. Shittu admitted that he did not serve
but claimed he thought his first political post after graduation could suffice
as national service, a claim lawyers and NYSC insiders consider as ludicrous
and untenable.
Skipping the compulsory national service is an offence under
the NYSC law, punishable with up to 12 months imprisonment.
Employers are mandated by law to always request NYSC
certificate of national service from employees as part of the conditions for
hiring.
Mr Shittu, born on March 23, 1953, studied law at Ife,
graduating in 1978. He proceeded to the Nigerian Law School, Lagos, qualifying
as a lawyer in 1979.
Having earned a bachelors degree at the age of 25, Section 2
of the NYSC Act expects Mr Shittu to have participated in the year-long
national service
Section 2 (1) of the NYSC Act mandates all Nigerians who
earn degrees or higher national diplomas from tertiary institutions in Nigerian
and abroad (effective 1972/73 session) to participate in the scheme.
Those exempted by the law are those who graduated after
their 30th birthday, persons with national honours and individuals who serve in
the military and intelligence organisations.
Rather than enlist in the national service, Mr Shittu went
into politics after graduation, and was, in 1979, elected member of the Oyo
State House of Assembly.
The minister said he believed that having been elected
lawmaker, he needed not participate in the national service.
He said he deliberatively skipped the NYSC scheme because he
was convinced that his membership of the state assembly was itself a “service”.
“The constitution provides for the qualification needed for
state assembly members, NYSC is not there,” Mr. Shittu said. “I didn’t need it
to become a member of the state assembly, and that is already a service,” he said.
Mr Shittu disagreed with our reporter who laboured to
explain to him that the NYSC Act makes participation in the scheme mandatory
for all graduates like him and that election or appointment to political office
does not qualify as a basis for exemption.
What the Law Says
Mr Shittu’s argument does not appear convincing when placed
against the letters of the NYSC law.
Section 2, subsection 1 of the Act makes it obligatory for
“every Nigerian” who graduate at the end of academic year 1972-73 and subsequent
years, “to make himself available for service for a continuous period of one
year from the date specified in the call-up instrument served upon him”.
Subsection 2 of the same section enumerated instances of
exemption from the national service, which did not include holding political
office, as Mr Shittu claimed.
The four categories of individuals exempted from the
national service, according to the NYSC law, are those who graduated above the
age of thirty, and those who have served in the armed forces or the Nigeria
Police for a period of more than nine months.
The third category covers staff of four security
organisations, namely the Nigerian Security Organisation, the State Security
Service, the National Intelligence Agency and the Defence Intelligence Service.
Exemption status is also conferred on individuals who bagged
national honours before graduation.
Illegalities?
Despite not possessing certificate of national service, Mr
Shittu went on from being a state lawmaker, to occupying important government
positions, including his current post as minister.
Mr Shittu is a former attorney general and commissioner for
justice in his native Oyo State. He also served as member of the Oyo State
Judicial Service Commission from 2004 to 2007.
In 2005, he was nominated minister by President Buhari, and
later assigned the communications portfolio upon legislative screening.
It is not clear how he scaled screenings by the Oyo State
House of Assembly, the SSS, and the National Assembly, who are all expected to
screen commissioner and ministerial nominees before their appointment.
Mr Shittu is now aspiring for governorship of Oyo State.
Section 12 of the NYSC Act mandates all employers to demand
the national service certificate of prospective employees before hiring.
Section 12 of the Act reads:
“For the purposes of employment anywhere in the Federation
and before employment, it shall be the duty of every prospective employer to
demand and obtained from any person who claims to have obtained his first
degree at the end of the academic year 1973-74 or, as the case may be, at the
end of any subsequent academic year the following:-
a. a copy of the Certificate of National Service of such
person issued pursuant to section 11 of this Decree
b. a copy of any exemption certificate issued to such person
pursuant to section 17 of this Decree
c. such other particulars relevant there to as may be prescribed
by or under this Decree.”
Section 13 of the Act also criminalises skipping the
national service as it prescribes 12 months imprisonment or fine of N2, 000 or
both, for such offenders.
Lawyers speak
Lawyers who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES said the minister is in
the breach of the NYSC law for skipping the national service.
“His membership of the state assembly is not the same as
national service,” said Huwaila Mohammed, a Kano-based practitioner. “He needs
to serve, because the section of the law dealing with exemption did not include
political office holders like him.”
Another lawyer, Abdul Mahmud, agreed with Ms Mohammed’s
position, saying the minister “is a dodger who is in breach of the law”.
He said by the provision of Section 12 of the NYSC Act, Mr
Shittu ought to have presented his certificate of national service before he
was cleared as minister.
“The provision is clear,” Mr. Mahmud said. “It says (you
must serve) before you get any job in the federation.”
Mr Mahmud, who chairs the Abuja-based pressure group, Public
Interest Lawyers League (PILL), said Mr Shittu’s “case is worse than that of
Kemi Adeosun because he deliberately refused to serve”.
“If we assume as a member of the Oyo House he (Mr Shittu)
served, did it not defeat objective 4 (b) stated in Section 1 (4) (b) of the
NYSC Act? Members serve in states other than their own,” he said.
The lawyer said Mr Shittu should be arrested immediately by
the police and made to face the law.
All positions he has held are illegal and he should return
all monies he earned from those posts to government coffers.
