Hanatu Musawa’s NYSC Record: Will Senate Clear Tinubu’s Ministerial Nominee After Rejecting Her 4 Years Ago?

If it’s only academic achievements that are required, Hanatu Musa Musawa, 43, is one of the most qualified persons among President Bola Tinubu’s ministerial nominees set for Senate Screening tomorrow Monday.

She studied Law at the University of Buckingham, United Kingdom, and acquired two Postgraduate Master’s Degrees, one in the Legal Aspect of Marine Affairs from the University of Cardiff, Wales, and the other in Oil and Gas Law from the University of Aberdeen. She also has a PhD in view.

But it is compulsory for every Nigerian graduate of university or polytechnic to take part in the National Youths Service Corps for one year since 1973. Only Nigerian graduates above the age of 30 are exempted from the NYSC.

Section 13 of the National Youths Service Corps Act stipulates that any Nigerian graduate below 30 who refuses to make himself/herself available for the compulsory one-year service has committed an offence “and liable on conviction to a fine of N4,OOO or to imprisonment for a term of two years or to both such fine and imprisonment.”

The Katsina-born Hanney, as she is fondly called, failed to serve her country when she returned to Nigeria after her studies. There is no record of NYSC in her CV seen by THE WHISTLER and unofficial checks at the NYSC National Secretariat confirmed she neither did the compulsory one-year service nor was she given any exemption.

While THE WHISTLER could not establish when she returned to the country from the UK after her studies to determine if she could have qualified for exemption, she has been professionally and politically active in Nigeria since 2002 when she was only 22 years old– having been born in 1980.

She had also worked as a young lawyer for the late Chief Clement Akpamgbo’s legal firm and she temporarily supported Barrister Bala Na Allah during the Oputa Panel Human Rights Violation Commission which sat from 1999-2002.

Hanney never took any government job knowing she would not be qualified. Thus, it is clear that she deliberately skipped the NYSC, and this is what is bothering her family and friends.

THE WHISTLER learnt over the weekend that her family is worried that the Senate may not clear her since she does not have the NYSC in her curriculum Vitae. “We’re worried about whether the Senate will clear her,” said one of her friends during a chat with THE WHISTLER. “Do you know whether they will clear her?” she asked.

Hannatu’s evasion of the NYSC also bothers her family, including her ex-husband Rabiu Samad, chairman of BUA group who are said to be “pressing all buttons” to ensure she’s cleared. Some of her friends have even suggested that she may have “done something about it”—meaning she could have acquired an exemption through the backdoor.

But if indeed she got an NYSC certificate of service or exemption through the back door, it could spell more trouble for her as it could complicate her offences.

The 9th Senate rejected her nomination as a commissioner to the board of the National Pension Commission (PenCom) in 2020 because she evaded the NYSC and could not provide any certificate of exemption. While defending herself before the Senate Committee on Establishment at the time, said her NYSC certificate was burnt in a fire incident. But the mysterious fire destroyed only her NYSC certificate and not the other credentials. Of course, it was an alibi that the senators did not buy, and her nomination was rejected.

The question now is whether the same senate which rejected her nomination for a federal appointment four years ago confirm her now for an even higher appointment? If the senate eventually confirms her as a minister, won’t she be facing the same kind of blackmail that trailed the former Minister of Finance , Kemi Adeosun, who was eventually forced to resign?

Hannatu’s case is even worse because she has always been a Nigerian citizen unlike Adeosun who was a British citizen when she graduated.

A group from the North West zone had in 2020 written a petition to the Senate to stop Hannatu’s confirmation on the ground that she did not possess the NYSC Certificate, a claim that corroborates this website’s investigations.

The group, which called itself the “League of Concern Indigenes of the States in the Northwest zone,” had apparently dug into her past, and addressed the petition to Senator Ibrahim Shekarau, Chairman of the Senate Committee that oversights PenCom.

The petition dated 7th October, was signed by Comrade Musa Argungu who resides in Birnin Kebbi. Part of the petition, which was obtained by this website, read: “In fact, we are very surprised that the list of the people nominated by President Buhari for the Pencom includes Hannatu Musa Musawa. Everybody knows that she didn’t attend NYSC after her degree in UK. That is why she never worked for the Government since she come back from her studies. The Committee should critically analyze her CV and even if she submits any NYSC certificate, it is fake. This is against the NYSC Act…”

Hanney is the daughter of Alhaji Musa Musawa, who was a prominent northern politician during his lifetime. Currently, she was the deputy spokesperson of the All-Progressive Congress until President Tinubu appointed her as Special Adviser.