Last updated on February 2nd, 2021 at 10:10 am
At least 95 Prospective Corps members (PCM) were caught by the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) during the last mobilization programme.
Recall that the Director-General of NYSC Brigadier General Shuaibu Ibrahim categorically stated that he would deal with fake PCM and serving members out of the one-year compulsory programme.
InfomediaNG gathered that the fake PCMs include those from Nigeria and foreign universities. It wasn’t the first time fake NYSC would be caught, a few months ago, eight fake corps members were nabbed in Kano State.
They were handed over to the to the security agencies during the last orientation exercise.
Brigadier General Ibrahim stated this Wednesday at the NYSC 2019 Batch C pre-mobilization workshop in Niger State.
Army general disclosed that 65 out of the arrested graduates were from universities in Nigeria while 30 others were from other West African universities.
He said, “Regarding fraudulent certificates, we have arrested 65 fake students from universities in Nigeria and from other West African universities, we have arrested about 30. We have handed them over to the police for prosecution.”
The NYSC director-general also accused some tertiary institutions in Nigeria of selling Degree and HND certificates and statements of result to unqualified persons in a bid to smuggle them into NYSC mobilisation.
He pointed out that the trend would threaten the credibility of the NYSC mobilisation process, adding that the action has grave implications for the socio-economic development of Nigeria.
Ibrahim who sounded unhappy about the trend was quoted as saying, “It is worrisome to note that some unscrupulous persons still indulge in the sale of Degree and HND Certificates and Statements of Result to unqualified persons. It has also been observed that names of unqualified persons are included in the Senate/Academic Board -approved list uploaded on the NYSC registration portal by some corps-producing institutions.
He also berated some Corps Producing Institutions of uploading part-time and overaged graduates for mobilization, “This is one of the challenges we are out to tackle headlong, this attempt in some quarters to threaten the credibility of the process,” he said.
He promised to use every means to fight anything that could make the credibility of NYSC questionable and promised to blacklist and publicly denounce tertiary institution that continue to include names of unqualified persons in their uploaded data.
He said, “It is known fact that one can only print out data inputted into the computer, hence the claim of ignorance of how strange names entered a Senate/Academic Board-approved list is unfounded. Where such infraction occurs, it is certain that the login details of the Students’ Affairs Officers (SAO) or the Registrar have been compromised.
Moving forward, he said, Registrars and SAOs would be held responsible for any “infraction in the performance of their duties relating to the mobilization process.”
High institutions in the Republic of Benin have become a destination point for some Nigerian students where they buy certificates and return to Nigeria for their service year as foreign-trained students.