50 Days: FG, NYSC Silent as Adeosun Continue With Forged NYSC "Exemption Cert"

Kemi Adeosun, Minister for Finance

Fifty days after report emerged that Nigeria's finance minister, Kemi Adeosun deliberately avoided participating in the mandatory one year National Youth Service Corps, NYSC and consequently forged her exemption certificate to secure appointment as Minister in 2015, neither the federal government nor the NYSC has offered explanation to that effect or taken action on the punishable offence.

As Nigerian graduates enlisted in the next batch of the National Youth Service Corps begin their orientation course on August 28 at various camps across the country, prospective applicants trooped to social media to seek for the latest information about their postings.

It, however, served as another opportunity for Nigerians to remind the corps that it is now 50 days since the finance minister, Kemi Adeosun, was accused of forging her NYSC exemption certificate.

Premium Times newspaper had on July 7 exposed how Ms Adeosun skipped the mandatory one year scheme and forged a certificate that showed she had been exempted from participation.

The revelation elicited a public outrage from Nigerians, with the Human and Environmental Development Agenda, a nongovernmental organisation, petitioning the police inspector general demanding an investigation into the claims against the minister.

The corps only response was a short statement on July 9 saying that it would investigate the claims.

Nothing has been heard of the matter ever since.

Two weeks ago, a civic group, the Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) sued the NYSC over its failure to disclose details of the certificate paraded by the minister.

The group had earlier made a freedom of information request to the NYSC which the agency refused to honour.