The State Security Service, charged with
When she eventually returned to Nigeria in 2002, Mrs Adeosun still did not deem it necessary to participate in the NYSC scheme. She simply accepted a job offer at a private firm, Cha usatimes.cc pel Hill Denham.
However, ostensibly concerned that she might run into trouble for skipping the
mandatory scheme, Mrs Adeosun, sometime in 2009, procured a fake exemption
certificate.
The NYSC does not issue
exemption certificate to anyone who, like the minister, graduates before
turnin
usanews.cc g 30, top officials of the scheme familiar with the matter told PREMIUM
TIMES.
Mrs Adeosun’s
‘certificate’ is dated September 9, 2009, and was purportedly signed by Yusuf
Bomoi, a former director-general of the corps.
Officials said Mr. Bomoi stepped down from the NYSC in January 2009, and could
not have signed any certicate for the corps eight months after. The retired
brigadier gene
news
al passed on in September 2017.
ILLEGAL JOBS
Using that fake
certificate, Mrs Adeosun went on to clinch high-profile jobs at Quo Vadis
Partnerships (managing director), Ogun State Government (commissioner for
finance), and Federal Government of Nigeria (minister of finance).
By the provision of
Section 12 of the NYSC Act, employers must demand NYSC certificates from
prospective employees. The law also mandates employees to present only genuine
certificates for that purpose.
Section 12 of the Act
reads:
“For the purposes of
employment anywhere in the Federation and before employment, it shall be the
duty of every prospective employer to demand and obtained from any person who
claims to have obtained his first degree at the end of the academic year
1973-74 or, as the case may be, at the end of any subsequent academic year the
following:-
a. a copy of the Certificate of National Service of such person issued pursuant
to section 11 of this Decree
b. a copy of any exemption certificate issued to such person pursuant to
section 17 of this Decree
c. such other particulars relevant there to as may be prescribed by or under
this Decree.”
A lawyer, Sagir Gezawa,
described jobs Mrs Adeosun has had in Nigeria as illegal.
“The combined effect of
sections 12 and 13 of the NYSC Act is that it is illegal to hire a person who graduated
but failed to make himself or herself available to serve, or falsify any
document to the effect that he or she has served or exempted from serving.”
However, without demanding or verifying the veracity of the certificate
presented by Mrs Adeosun, two Nigerian companies, the Ogun State Government and
the Federal Government of Nigeria employed her at various times.
On becoming governor in 2011, Ibikunle Amosun nominated her into his cabinet.
She proceeded to serve as commissioner of finance for four years.
The State Security Service, charged with vetting appointees to top government positions, failed to detect that her NYSC certificate was fake.
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