Communications minister Adebayo Shittu says he would be happy to do his NYSC now

COMMUNICATIONs minister Adebayo Shittu has said he may still partake in the mandatory one-year National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme after being barred from running for Oyo State governor because he skipped the service.

Last week, the screening committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC), decided not to accept Mr Shittu's bid to run for the governorship of Oyo State because he did not serve. Apparently, Mr Shittu, 65, did not participate in the one year mandatory scheme, after graduating from the University of Ife despite finishing school below the required minimum age of 30.

Defending his decision, Mr Shittu said his first political assignment after graduation, serving as a member of the Oyo state House of Assembly, could suffice as national service. However, now that the action has counted against him, Mr Shittu said he is willing to join fresh graduates in the scheme if it becomes necessary.

Mr Shittu replied: “Of course I will go. It will be a pleasant thing to go, after I have been governor by the grace of God.

“The courts would have to decide whether serving in the house of assembly and being minister is not superior and does not replace service in the NYSC. I am not Kemi Adeosun because I didn’t have any forged certificate of exemption, although she didn’t forge, she was a victim of circumstance.”

Apart from Mr Shittu, the former finance minister Ms Adeosun had to resign her post after it emerged that the NYSC exemption certificate she presented was forged. Ms Adeosun, a UK trained economist and accountant, has since returned to the UK.