TheCable

Lai Mohammed, minister of information, declined comments on the allegations that Kemi Adeosun, his finance counterpart, forged an exemption certificate of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).

Approached by state house correspondents after the federal executive council (FEC) meeting on Wednesday, Mohammed said: “The government has spoken. NYSC is part of government and I have nothing to add to what the NYSC has said.”

Responding to a report by Premium Times that Adeosun allegedly forged her exemption certificate, NYSC said the minister did apply for the certificate but promised to investigate circumstances surrounding the allegations of forgery.

“Our attention has been drawn to the issue of the alleged forgery of an NYSC Exemption Certificate by the Honorable Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun,” NYSC had said in a statement signed by Adeyemi Adenike, its director of press.

“Checking our records, Mrs. Adeosun did apply for an Exemption Certificate. We shall investigate the origin of the purported Exemption Certificate in question.”

Adeosun graduated from the Polytechnic of East London in 1989, at 22. According to her curriculum vitae, the finance minister was born in March 1967.

Those who are above the age of 30 years as of the time of the one-year mandatory service get exempted from NYSC.

In addition to being a requirement for government and private sector jobs in Nigeria, the enabling law prescribes punishment for anyone who absconds from the scheme or forges its certificate.