Top officials of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) are plotting to help Kemi Adeosun, minister of finance, out of her certificate mess, accordin
Top officials of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) are plotting to help Kemi Adeosun, minister of finance, out of her certificate mess, according to TheCable. Premium Times, an online newspaper, had reported that Adeosun possesses a questionable NYSC exemption certificate. Having finished her first degree at 22, she was not entitled to exemption on the ground of age except she was above 30, according to the NYSC Act. She would also not be qualified for employment in either private or public sector having not served or been exempted.
NYSC insiders said that the officials are looking for a way to help her out by blaming the mess on the former director-general, Yusuf Bomoi, a retired brigadier-general who died on September 18, 2017. Bomoi would be portrayed as having granted Adeosun the exemption in error.
“At least Bomoi is not alive to defend himself,” one of the officials said.
Adeosun’s exemption certificate is dated September 9, 2009 and bears the signature of Bomoi even though he had officially left NYSC on February 13, 2009 when he was replaced by Maharazu Tsiga, also a brigadier-general. The misalignment of dates, which shows the certificate being issued almost seven months after Bomoi had left his position, will be blamed on “clerical error”, according to another insider. While this may potentially free Adeosun of the criminal charge of forgery, it still does not protect her from facing charges of dodging national service.
On Monday, NYSC issued a vague press release, confirming that Adeosun applied for exemption but failed to disclose when she applied and if she was indeed granted. The body promised to investigate the purported certificate without confirming or denying the validity of the serial number or the genuineness of the document even though insiders say it will not take less than 30 minutes to check the records.
“She is definitely not entitled to an exemption,” an official of NYSC, who declined being named for fear of victimisation, said.
Adeosun is yet to comment publicly on the mess.
