By EZE CHINWEUBA

Dwight D. Eisenhower once said: “The supreme quality for leadership is unquestionably integrity. Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is on a section gang, a football field, in an army, or in an office.”

Born October 14, 1890, Eisenhower was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. He died on March 28, 1969.

During World War II, he served as Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in Europe and achieved the five-star rank as General of the Army. Eisenhower planned and supervised two of the most consequential and impactful military campaigns of World War II: Operation Torch in the North Africa campaign in 1942–1943 and the D-Day invasion of Normandy in 1944. His assertion that the supremacy of leadership recruitment must be based on unquestionable integrity speaks to the character of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), easily the star agency in Nigeria today.

Established in 1973 to drive national integration and cohesion, NYSC has managed to build a reputation of integrity that is almost alien in Nigerian territory. From Mrs Kemi Adeosun, a one-time Minister, who was put to the sword on NYSC’s altar of holiness, to Mr Peter Mbah, a serving state Governor who is now running from pillar to post to survive trial at the Enugu State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, the NYSC now looks like an oasis in a vast moral desert.

Anyone who followed the proceedings at the tribunal will sincerely marvel at the body of evidence meticulously presented by the NYSC. Dates! Time! Records! You will see the unmistakable thoroughness of the agency and its leadership. Their consistency in standing on their integrity and uprightness is inspiring. The only agency that has never taken back their word.

I was shocked when news filtered in about the Minister of Art, Culture and Creative Economy, Barr. Hannatu Musawa, in relation to the controversy surrounding her National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) status. During her screening as a ministerial nominee, information available was that she is still a serving corps member.

“She is a serving corps member,” said Eddy Megwa, NYSC Director, Press and Public Relations, in response to an enquiry by TheCable, an online digital media outfit. He went ahead to add that the Minister of Arts and Culture is occupying the ministerial position in breach of the NYSC Act.

The revelation opened up a can of worms on efforts by the minister in the past to cow NYSC into submission since 2001 when she ought to have served her father land. Apparently, for twenty years Barr. Musawa has tried to twist the NYSC to play ball, but the agency has maintained its stand that she absconded.

It was revealed that Musawa had transferred from Ebonyi State to Kaduna State after being initially assigned there for her youth service in 2001 but she “absconded and didn’t complete the programme.”

In 2020, the Ahmed Lawan-led 9th Senate rejected Musawa’s nomination by former President Muhammadu Buhari as Commissioner representing the North West at the National Pension Commission (PENCOM). Her failure to submit her NYSC Certificate was cited as reason for her rejection. Perhaps after further attempts to compromise the NYSC failed once more, she agreed to be remobilized for her national service and is currently serving in FCT.

It is clear what Section 13 of the NYSC Act says concerning anyone who is under 30 and refuses to enroll for the mandatory one year service. Such a person is in danger of a huge fine or two years imprisonment.

Speaking on the matter, Human Rights activist and fiery lawyer Femi Falana (SAN) said: “It is illegal for anyone to obtain a ministerial job while still serving or before completing their NYSC service.” In a statement titled, “A Youth Corps Member is not Competent to be a Minister in Nigeria”, Falana said that by “virtue of Section 2 of the NYSC Act, every citizen who graduated from any tertiary institution in and outside Nigeria and was not 30 years old shall be mobilized for the one-year compulsory national youth service, while any person above 30 was not eligible to participate in the service.”

Once again the NYSC has shown its incorruptible stand and passed an unmistakable message that it will slaughter anyone who dares to bring its name to disrepute. By doing so, it has inspired all of us as a people, including institutions of government, especially the judiciary, that the supreme quality for leadership is unquestionable integrity. Only through such can a nation’s character be judged among the comity of nations.

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