Paul Osuyi, Asaba
National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Director General, Brigadier General Shuaibu Ibrahim, yesterday in Asaba, Delta State, bemoaned the prevailing desperation of some Nigerians to acquire educational certificates at all costs, especially outside the shores of the country.
Ibrahim stated that desperate youths now cut corners by going to nearby countries within the West African sub-region to practically buy certificates for degree courses they never attended, adding that some of them were even daring enough to present themselves for mobilisation for the mandatory one year national service.
He warned that if the trend is not checked and the fraudulent youths are inadvertently employed in the public and private sectors, the degree of harm that will be done to the nation’s socio-economic life is better imagined than experience.
The director general spoke during the opening of the 2020 Batch ‘A’ Pre-Mobilisation Workshop for stakeholders of NYSC with the theme: ‘Effective Stakeholders’ Engagement for a Seamless NYSC Mobilisation Process’.
Ibrahim, however, stated that the NYSC management had been vigilante with a strict process of certificate evaluation through which many fake graduates have been apprehended.
“Let me assure the nation that under our watch, NYSC will not mobilise any unqualified person for national service or, as the case nay be, issue exemption certificate to such person. I wish to restate our warning that anyone caught presenting fake academic credentials will be prosecuted,” he said.
He urged parents and guardians to monitor their children in tertiary institutions both within and outside the country to ensure they are not involved in fraudulent acquisition of certificates.
Besides, the director general urged parents whose children are studying overseas to ensure they make themselves available for national service immediately they complete their studies to avoid contravention of the NYSC Act.
While thanking the Federal Government for implementing the new allowance for corps members in line with the new national minimum wage, Ibrahim also commended the Delta State Government for its continued support for NYSC, especially in the area of corps welfare.
Declaring the workshop open, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa enjoined the NYSC management to sustain efforts to weed out fake graduates and sanitise the system.
Okowa, who was represented by Commissioner for Youth Development, Ifeanyi Egwuyenga, pledged that his administration will continue to support the scheme especially in the areas of security and welfare of corps members posted to the state.