HURIWA raises concerns over Culture Minister’s status as youth corper

A rights advocacy group, the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has raised the alarm over the status of the new Minister of Art, Culture and Creative Economy, Hannatu Musawa, who it alleged abandoned her mandatory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme.

In Nigeria, fresh graduates are mandated to serve the nation for one year before seeking employment, but according to the rights group, this was circumvented by President Bola Tinubu by naming Musawa as a minister when she had not rounded up the mandatory service year.

HURIWA, which raised the alarm in a statement on Thursday, alleged that Musawa abandoned her NYSC programme in Ebonyi State but later showed interest in completing it.

Read also: HURIWA wants Akpabio impeached over senators’ holiday allowance comments

The group claimed that the minister was later mobilised for the completion of the service earlier this year and got posted to a law firm in Abuja before her appointment as a minister.

“Hannatu Musawa was confirmed by the senate without proper screening and sworn in by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as minister of arts,” HURIWA said in the statement.

“HURIWA wonders about the kind of scrutiny being conducted by the Department of State Services so much so that it wasn’t disclosed that the minister is a youth corper,” the statement added.

The group urged the NYSC to compel Musawa to focus on either her national youth service or the ministerial appointment.

The Director of Press and Public Relations at the NYSC, Eddy Megwa, had also confirmed that she was actually a serving Corps member when an online media organisation sought clarification from him.

“Yes she is a serving corp member,” Megwa was quoted as saying.

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