Minister of Communications, Mr. Adebayo Shittu, did not answer call-up in the National Youth Service Scheme, NYSC, according to an online portal, Premium Times.
Mr. Shittu failed to participate in the NYSC scheme despite graduating from the then University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) at age 25.
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.
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.
Shitu reacts
When contacted, Mr. Shittu admitted that he did not serve but claimed he thought his first political post after graduation could suffice as national service.
He said: “The constitution provides for the qualification needed for state assembly members, NYSC is not there. I didn’t need it to become a member of the State Assembly, and that is already a service.”
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.
The Minister said he deliberatively skipped the NYSC scheme because he was convinced that his membership of the state assembly was itself a “service”.
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.
