Allison Madueke skippeNYSC

If the Nigerian President Chief MR.Goodluck Ebere Jonathan proceeds to nominate former petroleum minister, Diezani Allison-Madueke, to his incoming cabinet, one question she might answer during

Under Nigerian law, fresh graduates under the age of 30 must sign up for a year of national service in a part of the country different from their places of origin. The service year serves as a demonstration of patriotism to the Nigerian state. No one who skipped the compulsory national service, barring any exception, clearly stated in the law, may receive employment in Nigeria.

Mrs Allison-Madueke graduated in 1987 at the age of 27, with a degree in Architecture from Howard University in the United States. Since then, she has worked in the US and Nigeria, refusing to give a year of her working life to the Nigerian state as required of all graduate citizens. There is also no indication that Mrs Allison-Madueke got an exemption from the programme.

With speculations making the round that she might be returning to her former job in President Jonathan’s defunct cabinet, activists and lawyers are insisting that Mrs Alison-Madueke, had, by her action, contravened some provisions of the NYSC decree and had committed a criminal offense which could earn her a year in jail, a fine, or both. They are also contending that with her unpatriotic conduct, she has no moral right to occupy any public office in Nigeria or be cabinet minister.

“In my view, such a person is not legally and morally worthy to be appointed a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” Bamidele Aturu, a Lagos based human rights attorney said.

“I recommend to the Senate not to clear any nominee for ministerial appointment, who has skipped the NYSC, bearing in mind that ministers should stand on a higher moral ground and be above board,” added Carol Ajie, an Abuja-based lawyer.

Olorunimbe Mamora, a senator, who represented Lagos East Senatorial District in the last National Assembly, admitted that previous senate endorsement of Mrs Allison-Madueke’s appointment would be a grave error if it was eventually established that she indeed skipped her national service.

“It probably happened in error. The senate would not deliberately take an action that is not in tandem with the constitution or that is wrong in the process of the confirmation hearing,” Mr Mamora said in a telephone interview. He wondered why security checks routinely done on all nominees for top political offices failed to reveal that the former minister did not carry out her national service.

Upon graduating from Howard in 1987, Mrs Allison-Madueke took up employment in a couple of American construction firms. She returned to Nigeria in 1993 but there are no records that the former minister, who has so far served in three different ministerial portfolios, signed up for the national service. On her return, Mrs Allison-Madueke joined Shell Petroleum from where she resigned in 2007 to take up her first political appointment as minister for transportation.