Utsu
I’m still trying to understand a section of the plethora of mixed reactions I’ve read on this Kemi issue. From the absurd to the pedestrian to the plain ridiculous. Whilst some people have taken sides with her due to tribal reasons, others have chosen to politicize it and another faction have digressed entirely, going ahead to question the necessity of the scheme’s (NYSC) existence.
I thought the cases brought against her are certificate forgery and perjury? So what’s all the digression about? Ha, ok, let me also digress so I can make another point. Years ago, just after I was done with my national youth service, I was invited for an interview by the NNPC. Few months prior to that, I had written their graduate recruitment test and apparently, the invite meant I was successful. On the day of my interview (at the NNPC’s HQ in Abuja), the first phase we interviewees had to pass through was the screening of our documents/credentials. When it got to my turn, a scruffy looking HR staff of the NNPC who also, was somewhat tardily dressed grabbed my envelope which contained my credentials and brought them out, scanning meticulously through each and every detail. When he got to my NYSC discharge certificate, I held my breath —and almost immediately, he looked up at me with joyful menace —and said “hey young man, you just passed out in September, you weren’t eligible to write the test in May in the first place because the advert explicitly stated that only those who finished their NYSC before that date were eligible to apply”.
I was already disorientated but comported myself on the outside even as I tried to convince him that I wasn’t aware of such a clause in the advert. My plea fell on deaf ears. I was told to go back home. Instantly, street mode and desperado mode were activated and I started to run from pillar to post searching for a solution. I raised my voice in a bid to create a scene and this attracted a lady who I later got to know was the Group General Manager in charge of Human Resources. The overzealous bloke who was screening me jumped up in excitement and started yapping on about how he had spotted the error. The lady turned to me and brashly told me to go home. I had resolved that I wasn’t going home without a fight —first, I played the logic card. I told her the application was made on my behalf by a relative whilst I was serving in a remote location and that I wasn’t aware of the “conclusion of NYSC before application clause”. She was having none of that —I then went a step further to ask her why her staff didn’t detect this during the test screening process —that if they did, it would have saved us the stress we were going through at that moment. She was also having none of that. I then switched to the emotional card —by asking her if she would let her son risk a night journey and travel all the way to Abuja (from Lagos) just to get turned back for such technical reasons even after he passed the recruitment test. I could see it was already working and followed up immediately with an “Ok Ma, please let me at least get my 10k transport allowance so I’ll know I didn’t lose it all”.
At this point, her personal aides moved in and ushered me away. I left back to my base the next day disappointed to say the least. Three weeks later, I got an apology text from the NNPC. They apologized for what they made me go through and invited me for a rescheduled interview —which I attended and performed well in.
Thanks for reading my story. The point I am trying to make is this —if a smaller unit like the NNPC could spot such a discrepancy in less than five minutes, what then was the Buhari administration doing in the six months it used to scout for and screen ministerial appointees? What was the office of the SGF, which is in a way, the equivalent of the HR department in the NNPC doing that they couldn’t vet Kemi Adeosun’s credentials properly and disqualify her?
Now the Federal government is a subject of ridicule and the dishonorable minister is on the verge of facing a criminal(forgery and perjury) trial! Very avoidable I must say but the usual incompetence associated with President Buhari won- as usual!
Utsu
Is a social commentator
