Senate orders NYSC to issue withheld certificate to Nigerian lawyer

By YANGE IKYAA

The Senate on Wednesday urged the federal ministry of education to forthwith issue one Mr. Sunday M. Akinwale a National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) exemption certificate.

This was contained in a resolution reached sequel to the consideration of a report by the ethics committee on a petition received from Mr. Akinwale against the minister of education and the director-general of the NYSC for non-release of his exemption letter.

Chairman of the committee, Senator Ayo Akinyelure, in his presentation, stated that the petitioner “graduated with LLB (Hons.) in Law at the age of 41 and has proceeded to Bar 1 and 2 and has been called to the Nigerian Bar and he currently practices as partner at Lawville Chambers in Akure, Ondo State.

The presentation said in part “that Birmingham City University was an accredited institution in the United Kingdom and wondered why the federal ministry of education should not evaluate his credentials and process the release of his exemption certificate after he had proceeded to law school, and having been called to the Nigerian Bar, and currently a practicing Lawyer;

“That the federal ministry of education subjected Sunday Akinwale to harsh conditions by compelling him to go and re-sit for Mathematics;

“That the policy of the national standing committee of the federal ministry of education on foreign qualifications negates section 11 of the National Youth Service Corps Act Cap N84, Laws of the Federation of 2004.

The Act empowers the NYSC, among other duties, to issue a discharge certificate to every member that has successfully completed the one year mandatory service. However, in place of the discharge certificate, an exemption certificate may be issued to those that graduated at age 31 years and above.

The reported finally concluded “that the policy stood in the way of the release of the exemption certificate to Sunday Akinwale; and that the policy of the National Standing Committee on candidates who had already obtained their first degrees with deficient entry qualifications should re-sit for the affected papers before being cleared for NYSC, was not backed by law and so, could not stand.”