A corps member, Rita Uguamaye, who criticized the government of President Bola Tinubu, has alleged that she was denied her NYSC certificate after completing the mandatory one-year service.
Rita, in her latest Instagram post (@imraye_), disclosed that she had been refused the NYSC certificate, which is issued by the National Youth Service Corps as proof of successfully participating in the mandatory one-year program for Nigerian graduates.
While her fellow corps members collected their certificates, she claimed she was prevented from being screened. “After 1 year of moving to another man’s land to serve my country, it ended with no certificate and telling me to come for a final verdict that we already know how it’ll end,” she wrote.
She stated that her coming to Lagos to serve was “a waste of my time”, adding: “…they said the reason I’m not getting my certificate is because I didn’t clear myself for the month of April on my scheduled date. But what they aren’t saying is how I was present to get cleared, yet the LGI kept asking me to go to the back, and when she finally wanted to attend to me, she said she won’t clear me.”
Raye further claimed that the NYSC official responsible for screening her “seized my file and told me to get out.”
Popularly known as Raye, she came into the national spotlight in March 2025 after calling out Tinubu’s government for overseeing an inflation-ridden economy following the removal of petrol subsidies and other bad economic policies.
According to her, Tinubu’s policies plunged millions of Nigerians into endemic poverty. She also described the former Lagos governor as a “terrible leader” and described Lagos State as ‘smelly’, but later apologised.
Her outcry reportedly prompted the Federal Government to swiftly announce an increase in corps members’ monthly allowance from ₦33,000 to ₦77,000, after several months of unfulfilled promises.
Recall that in a viral TikTok video posted on her account (@talktoraye), Raye voiced her frustration over Nigeria’s worsening economic situation under Tinubu, lamenting soaring inflation and widespread hardship.
She alleged that she was threatened by an NYSC official after the outburst, though the NYSC authorities offered no public response to her claims.
Following her allegations, notable Nigerian figures, including former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and human rights activist Omoyele Sowore, condemned the alleged threats to her life.