NYSC insists former aviation minister absconded from the scheme

The National Youth Service Corps has said that Stella Oduah, did not complete the mandatory one-year NYSC programme.

The NYSC revealed this in a letter released on Wednesday, May 25 which was marked NYSC/DHQ/PPRU/783/Vol III.

According to the letter which was signed by the Director, Press and Public Relations, Eddy Megwa on behalf of the DG of the NYSC, Oduah commenced her NYSC programme in 1982 but absconded.

The letter followed an inquiry by the Concerned Anambra North PDP Stakeholders.

The group had written a letter to the NYSC accusing some officials of the agency of colluding with Oduah to hide the truth.

NYSC denied colluding with Odua via a response titled, “Re: Doubtful NYSC Participation Collusion of Some Unscrupulous Staff of NYSC Concerning Stella Adaeze Oduah (Senator), Save the Image and Reputation of the Scheme”.

The letter read thus: “In response to your request, we wish to state that the facts of the matter remain as follows: Stella Adaeze Oduah was mobilised for national service in 1982/1983 service year and deployed to Lagos State.

“After the orientation course, she absconded and never completed the national service. The consequence of this is that she is not qualified for the issuance of the certificate of national service.”

Section 2 (1) of the NYSC Act obligates every Nigerian graduate to “ make himself available for service for a continuous period of one year from the date specified in the call-up instrument served upon him.”

According to the NYSC Act, the four categories of individuals exempted from the national service are those who graduated above the age of 30, those who have served in the Armed Forces or the Nigeria Police for a period of more than nine months; those who served in intelligence organisations and individuals who bagged national honours before graduation.

It is yet vague, how Oduah absconded from the scheme despite it thorough process and escaped the claws of the Department of State Services.

In her CF001 forms tendered to the Independent National Electoral Commission in 2019, Oduah’s certificate was missing despite claims that she completed her NYSC.

An had an affidavit which stated that, “Sometime in 2010 while in transit from Akili Ozizor in Ogbaru local government area to Abuja, I discovered that some of my personal belongings were missing.

“The missing documents are the originals of my West African School Certificate of 1978 from Zixon Secondary School Ozubulu, First School Leaving Certificate from St. John Odoakpu Onitsha; Bachelor of Science in Business Administration Certificate 1982 from St. Paul’s College Lawrence Virginia USA; National Youth Service Corps certificate 1983, national identity card, United States of America Social Security card with numbers in it.”

Stella Oduah served as Minister of Aviation before she was removed by former President Goodluck Jonathan.