The Minister of Art, Culture, and Creative Economy, Hannatu Musawa, has stated that there is no law that Stops her from being a Nigerian Minister.
According to Musawa,” no part of our existing laws or the NYSC Act says that a… serving Corp member cannot be appointed by the President of Nigeria or any other appointing authority into political positions.”
Musawa’s comment comes on the heels of the statement released by the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), which raised the alarm that one of President Bola Tinubu’s minister is a serving corps member.
In the same vein, Director of Public Relations for the scheme, Eddy Megwa, stated that Musawa was occupying the ministerial position in breach of the NYSC Act.
Speaking with newsmen, Megwa explained that it negates the NYSC Act for any corps member to pick up any government appointment until the one-year service is over.
However, in a statement on Sunday, the minister gave the reason why she deferred service until 2023.
She further stated that she was posted to Akwa Ibom as opposed to Ebonyi, which the NYSC spokesman mentioned.
Musawa said, “I will like to state clearly that contrary to wrong insinuations and false assumptions in a section of the mainstream media and social media where false accusations have been made, there is no breach of any law or constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended regarding my current position as a minister and status as a serving Corp member.”
“It must be said that there is no law of Nigeria or any part of our constitution or NYSC Act that states that a serving Corp member cannot be appointed by the President of Nigeria or any other appointing authority into political positions.
“Equally, no part of our existing laws or the NYSC Act says that a corps member must finish service before he or she can be appointed to political office. There are no legal or constitutional limitations whatsoever. I have not broken any law in Nigeria,” she added.
