The National Youths Service Corps (NYSC)
has come under intense pressure since the publication of an exclusive
story by PREMIUM TIMES exposing how finance minister, Kemi Adeosun,
avoided the obligatory national service and fraudulently obtained an
exemption certificate.
Mrs Adeosun, who graduated at 22 in 1989
from the University of East London, ought not to have been issued with a
Certificate of Exemption of the service. The minister does not fall in
the category of those entitled for exemption.
The story has
generated outrage from Nigerians who asked the minister to resign from
her post or be fired by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Details
published by this newspaper on Monday showed that the purported
certificate was among the set of documents submitted by the minister for
her appointment and screening in 2015.
NYSC management on Monday
issued a rather vague press statement distancing itself from the
certificate paraded by Mrs Adeosun, but at the same time claiming it was
investigating its source. It confirmed the minister had applied for the
certificate.
Mrs Adeosun is yet to respond to the issues raised, 72 hours after publication of the story.
Many
Nigerians were unsatisfied by the NYSC’s response with some seeing it
as a first step in giving the minister a dubious cover.
PREMIUM
TIMES understands that the press statement was extracted off the NYSC
after a high-level lobbying and pressure mounted on the director general
of the service, Suleiman Kazaure.
There are also feelers from
the NYSC headquarters that some intercessors who want the matter
completely covered were suggesting misplacing the relevant NYSC register
as a last resort.
Mr Kazaure, a brigadier general, was said to
have come under severe pressure since the publication on Saturday with a
governor believed to be Mrs Adeosun’s godfather repeatedly reaching out
to the NYSC boss.
Also in the league to persuade the NYSC to
“help the minister out” is a senior government minister. The minister is
said to be working round the clock “to avert a PR disaster for the
government”.
The two politicians are said to be playing the cards
of national interest and the need to save the government from
embarrassment to the director general.
Mr Kazaure is said to have
resisted the initial pressure but was later cajoled to give a
non-committal statement pending the presidency taking final position on
the matter.
“If you read the NYSC statement it is non-committal
at all, although they tactically disowned the document,” said a source
familiar with the issues. “They can come out tomorrow and say even
though the woman applied, no certificate was issued. But if the pressure
is sustained they can own up to the flawed certificate.”
The
atmosphere at the NYSC secretariat was charged throughout Monday with
senior officials locked in winding meetings to find a solution to the
scandal at hand.
Two senior staff of the NYSC lamented their
predicaments on Monday but none of them would reveal detail of what
transpired in the series of meetings held at the headquarters of the
service.
One of them confided that the day was hectic and horrible with clear demands for officials to find a way out for the minister.
“We
senior people in NYSC are now caught in the web of intrigues,” one
official said. “We don’t know how it will end but we are praying to God
to help us. It has not been easy with us at all.”
PREMIUM TIMES
first visited the NYSC headquarters in early April to commence discreet
investigation into Mrs Adeosun’s ‘certificate’.Officials at the
Certification Department agreed that the certificate looked suspicious,
if not outright fake. One of them concluded it was fake
Because
the name on the certificate is Folakemi Adeosun (as opposed to Kemi
Adeosun with which the minister is popularly known) none of the
officials, at that stage, detected that the certificate we were trying
to verified belonged to the minister.
Based on the directive to
file a formal application, a letter requesting verification of the
certificate was delivered at the NYSC headquarters on April 17. Within
two days, the director general, who was the addressee, sent the request
to the Certification Department for the checks.
PREMIUM TIMES was
however told that the staff members responsible for the registers had
gone for camping exercises and advised to check after the camps.
Throughout the months of May, our reporter repeatedly made follow-ups.
On May 31 what appeared as a breakthrough came.
The
register for UK graduates who were given exemptions was brought in the
presence of our reporter and the officials diligently looked through the
2009 entries. It was confirmed that “Folakemi Adeosun” was not in the
register.
The reporter was therefore asked to return the next
day to pick up the NYSC’s response. He was given account details for
payment of the verification fee of N2,000. The payment was made the same
day.
On arriving June 1, our staff was directed to the NYSC’s
Account Department on the fifth floor to change the Remita receipt into
the NYSC official receipt. A receipt numbered 711133 was then issued.
However,
on returning to present the receipt for the letter at the NYSC’s
Verification Division, the story changed. The NYSC officials said the
verification had been channelled to the organisation’s ICT unit to check
its “electronic database”.
Frustrated by the sudden
back-tracking by the agency, this newspaper delivered a Freedom of
Information request to the NYSC headquarters on June 8. The FoI request
was ignored in spite of the FoI Act’s provision for agencies to respond
to requests within one week or write to seek extension if unable to
comply within the stipulated time.
LEAKAGE AND PRESSURES To
the surprise of this newspaper, our initial request letter to the NYSC
was leaked to Mrs Adeosun and her handlers who pressured PREMIUM TIMES
reporters, editors and owners.
PREMIUM TIMES believed the letter
was leaked June 1 when the agency claimed our request was redirected to
the ICT unit for electronic checks.
For days, this paper’s staff
came under undue pressure over the story, including attempts at
compromising those thought to be working on the report and the
management.
Around this time, the NYSC became non-responsive and
officials started evading our reporters both on telephone and in their
offices.
“That the story saw the light of the day shows the
sacrifices the reporter and the editors have made in favour of upholding
the truth,” said PREMIUM TIMES managing editor, Idris Akinbajo.
Mr
Akinbajo however said it was not yet time to reveal the full details of
“the back story and the undercurrents” that preceded the publication.
Source: Premium Times
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The National Youths Service Corps (NYSC)
has come under intense pressure since the publication of an exclusive
story by PREMIUM TIMES exposing how finance minister, Kemi Adeosun,
avoided the obligatory national service and fraudulently obtained an
exemption certificate.
Mrs Adeosun, who graduated at 22 in 1989
from the University of East London, ought not to have been issued with a
Certificate of Exemption of the service. The minister does not fall in
the category of those entitled for exemption.
The story has
generated outrage from Nigerians who asked the minister to resign from
her post or be fired by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Details
published by this newspaper on Monday showed that the purported
certificate was among the set of documents submitted by the minister for
her appointment and screening in 2015.
NYSC management on Monday
issued a rather vague press statement distancing itself from the
certificate paraded by Mrs Adeosun, but at the same time claiming it was
investigating its source. It confirmed the minister had applied for the
certificate.
Mrs Adeosun is yet to respond to the issues raised, 72 hours after publication of the story.
Many
Nigerians were unsatisfied by the NYSC’s response with some seeing it
as a first step in giving the minister a dubious cover.
PREMIUM
TIMES understands that the press statement was extracted off the NYSC
after a high-level lobbying and pressure mounted on the director general
of the service, Suleiman Kazaure.
There are also feelers from
the NYSC headquarters that some intercessors who want the matter
completely covered were suggesting misplacing the relevant NYSC register
as a last resort.
Mr Kazaure, a brigadier general, was said to
have come under severe pressure since the publication on Saturday with a
governor believed to be Mrs Adeosun’s godfather repeatedly reaching out
to the NYSC boss.
Also in the league to persuade the NYSC to
“help the minister out” is a senior government minister. The minister is
said to be working round the clock “to avert a PR disaster for the
government”.
The two politicians are said to be playing the cards
of national interest and the need to save the government from
embarrassment to the director general.
Mr Kazaure is said to have
resisted the initial pressure but was later cajoled to give a
non-committal statement pending the presidency taking final position on
the matter.
“If you read the NYSC statement it is non-committal
at all, although they tactically disowned the document,” said a source
familiar with the issues. “They can come out tomorrow and say even
though the woman applied, no certificate was issued. But if the pressure
is sustained they can own up to the flawed certificate.”
The
atmosphere at the NYSC secretariat was charged throughout Monday with
senior officials locked in winding meetings to find a solution to the
scandal at hand.
Two senior staff of the NYSC lamented their
predicaments on Monday but none of them would reveal detail of what
transpired in the series of meetings held at the headquarters of the
service.
One of them confided that the day was hectic and horrible with clear demands for officials to find a way out for the minister.
“We
senior people in NYSC are now caught in the web of intrigues,” one
official said. “We don’t know how it will end but we are praying to God
to help us. It has not been easy with us at all.”
PREMIUM TIMES
first visited the NYSC headquarters in early April to commence discreet
investigation into Mrs Adeosun’s ‘certificate’.Officials at the
Certification Department agreed that the certificate looked suspicious,
if not outright fake. One of them concluded it was fake
Because
the name on the certificate is Folakemi Adeosun (as opposed to Kemi
Adeosun with which the minister is popularly known) none of the
officials, at that stage, detected that the certificate we were trying
to verified belonged to the minister.
Based on the directive to
file a formal application, a letter requesting verification of the
certificate was delivered at the NYSC headquarters on April 17. Within
two days, the director general, who was the addressee, sent the request
to the Certification Department for the checks.
PREMIUM TIMES was
however told that the staff members responsible for the registers had
gone for camping exercises and advised to check after the camps.
Throughout the months of May, our reporter repeatedly made follow-ups.
On May 31 what appeared as a breakthrough came.
The
register for UK graduates who were given exemptions was brought in the
presence of our reporter and the officials diligently looked through the
2009 entries. It was confirmed that “Folakemi Adeosun” was not in the
register.
The reporter was therefore asked to return the next
day to pick up the NYSC’s response. He was given account details for
payment of the verification fee of N2,000. The payment was made the same
day.
On arriving June 1, our staff was directed to the NYSC’s
Account Department on the fifth floor to change the Remita receipt into
the NYSC official receipt. A receipt numbered 711133 was then issued.
However,
on returning to present the receipt for the letter at the NYSC’s
Verification Division, the story changed. The NYSC officials said the
verification had been channelled to the organisation’s ICT unit to check
its “electronic database”.
Frustrated by the sudden
back-tracking by the agency, this newspaper delivered a Freedom of
Information request to the NYSC headquarters on June 8. The FoI request
was ignored in spite of the FoI Act’s provision for agencies to respond
to requests within one week or write to seek extension if unable to
comply within the stipulated time.
LEAKAGE AND PRESSURES To
the surprise of this newspaper, our initial request letter to the NYSC
was leaked to Mrs Adeosun and her handlers who pressured PREMIUM TIMES
reporters, editors and owners.
PREMIUM TIMES believed the letter
was leaked June 1 when the agency claimed our request was redirected to
the ICT unit for electronic checks.
For days, this paper’s staff
came under undue pressure over the story, including attempts at
compromising those thought to be working on the report and the
management.
Around this time, the NYSC became non-responsive and
officials started evading our reporters both on telephone and in their
offices.
“That the story saw the light of the day shows the
sacrifices the reporter and the editors have made in favour of upholding
the truth,” said PREMIUM TIMES managing editor, Idris Akinbajo.
Mr
Akinbajo however said it was not yet time to reveal the full details of
“the back story and the undercurrents” that preceded the publication.
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