Kemi Adeosun qualifies as minister without NYSC certificate – Court

Admin l Thursday, July 08, 2021

 

ABUJA, Nigeria – A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Wednesday  declared that the former Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun  does not need to take part in the  National Youths Service Corps, (NYSC),  to be elected or appointed as a minister.

The former Minister of Finance resigned her appointment following allegation that she illegally obtained her NYSC exemption certificate.

She subsequently approached the court, through her lawyer, Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, to  set matters straight.

 

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In the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/303/2021, the Attorney General of the Federation was listed as the sole defendant. Delivering  his judgment, Justice Taiwo Taiwo, held that the former Finance Minister, being a British citizen, was not qualified to take part in the NYSC as at the time she graduated at the age of 22.

According to him, when Adeosun formally returned to the country and became a Nigerian citizen at over 30 years, she was also not eligible to present herself for the NYSC service.

Justice Taiwo Taiwo ruled that  the Plaintiff was not supposed to present herself for NYSC considering that under the 1979 Constitution which was in force as at the time she graduated from the University of East London in 1989, she was not a Nigerian citizen.

The court held that since the 1979 Constitution, which was in force at the time Adeosun graduated, did not recognise dual citizenship, she, therefore, could not have participated in the NYSC scheme, being a British citizen.

Besides,  Justice Taiwo noted that the Constitution did not require Plaintiff to present her first-degree certificate or any other certificate, including the NYSC certificate, to be appointed a Minister and proceeded to grant all four reliefs the Plaintiff sought in the suit, among which was, “a declaration that the plaintiff, being a United Kingdom citizen as at 1989 when she graduated from the University of East London, London, the United Kingdom at the age of 22 years, was ineligible to participate in the National Youth Service Corps scheme, established by the National Youth Service Corps Act, CAP N8, LFN, 2004.”