The Senate has confirmed that due process was followed in the recent appointment of Brigadier-General Shuaibu Ibrahim as the new Director-General of the National Youth Service Corps following its adoption of a report by the Committee on Sports and Youth Development.
Prior to the Committee’s findings that was adopted on Thursday, 9th May, 2019, the Senate had been embroiled in a debate as to whether the procedure for appointing Brigadier-General Ibrahim as Director General of the National Youth Service Corps had been followed after allegations of infractions were raised at an earlier plenary. Then, Senator Dino Melaye had accused the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Yusuf Buratai of redeploying Brigadier-General Sule Kazaure, the immediate past head of the Corps to the Nigerian Army Resource Centre and appointing Brigadier-General Shuaibu Ibrahim in his stead.
The Senator also moved Senate to investigate the matter after contending that the power of appointing an NYSC Director -General solely resided with the President by virtue of section 5(1) of the NYSC Act.
Section 5(1) of the NYSC Act states that:
“There shall be for the service corps a Director-General who shall be appointed by the President”.
However, Sen. Melaye’s allegations were investigated by the Committee, which reported that President Buhari had approved Brigadier-General Shuaibu’s appointment since 18th April 2019 in compliance with section 5 of the NYSC Act. It also noted that standard procedure had been followed in the deployment of Former Director-General of the Corps