From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
The Director-General, National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Brigadier-General Shuaibu Ibrahim, has warned fake Corps members to avoid coming into the scheme’s orientation camps across the country.
In his welcome address, during the opening ceremony of the NYSC 2021 Batch ‘A’ Pre-Mobilisation Workshop held in Nasarawa State, the DG pointed out that the workshop is aimed at strengthening inter-agency collaborations for the success of the NYSC mobilisation process.
He noted further that the scheme is committed to tackling issues that tend to undermine its mobilisation exercise, reiterating the warning that his management will arrest and prosecute any fake corps member.
‘While we unveil policy guidelines for the 2021 mobilisation, stakeholders gathered here will review issues in past exercises with a view to addressing identified challenges, and evolving strategies for improvement.
‘I wish to reaffirm the commitment of management to enhancing the credibility of the mobilisation process. Let me repeat our earlier warning that the scheme will not hesitate to arrest and prosecute any fake Corps member,’ he warned.
He commended the federal government for approving the 2020 Batch ‘B’ Orientation Course having been satisfied with the safety measures put in place by the NYSC with the guidance and support of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 and the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.
In his goodwill message, the Registrar, Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof Ishaq Olanrewaju Oloyede, claimed that various academic institutions should take greater blame in the mobilisation of fake Corps members into NYSC.
Prof Oloyede further maintained that institutions of learning are a veritable source of corrupting the NYSC mobilisation.
‘NYSC, due to so many factors, has become so attractive now that people even fake to be part of the service. Initially, graduates were not happy that they were serving because they felt it was an additional burden but now it has become attractive to serve.
‘It has become more important to serve because they NYSC certificate to justify the fake certificates obtained from the higher institutions. The certificate has been used as authentication of all those certificates obtained Illegitimately from some academic institutions.
‘What we have today in the NYSC is double service and Illegitimate mobilisation to maximise the opportunity of participating in the service. Illegitimate mobilisation is for many reasons. Some see it as a temporary preoccupation, some infiltration for an illicit act, validation of fake certificate, fake business and fake achievement.
‘Institutions of learning are a veritable source of corrupting the NYSC mobilisation. Many in every culprit are traceable to institutions of higher learning. Most of the Illegitimate, illegal mobilisation would not have been possible without the active collaboration of the student affairs or registries of various institutions.
‘Most institutions licenced to operate have no business be in education because all they want is money and they use the certificate they have to run the institutions which have continued to damage the integrity of this country.
‘There are many institutions that can register somebody without passing through any Secondary school, place them on 400 level and graduate them the next year once they are ready to pay the money,’ he claimed.
Speaking on the sideline after declaring the workshop open, Nasarawa State Government assured prospective Corps members to be deployed to the state that they would be protected despite the alarm from the state governor of the infiltration of bandits and insurgents.
‘We have acted promptly by holding security meeting to mitigate any security threat and on behalf of the state governor, we are assuring all parents and prospective Corps members that the state is very safe for them,’ the state Commissioner for Youth and Sports, Othman Bala Adam, who represented the governor, assured.
Delivering a prepared speech, the state government commended the contributions of Corps members to the development of the rural infrastructure, education and health sectors of the state.
‘The contributions of Corps members to the development of our dear state especially in the areas of education, health and rural infrastructure have made the scheme endearing. NYSC will continue to be a role model for other agencies in programme planning and implementation,’ he said.