THE National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has invalidated the certificates of 101 graduates fraudulently mobilised by the University of Calabar (UNICAL) during the 2021, 2022 and 2023 service years.
This action, according to a statement by NYSC’s Director of Information and Public Relations, Eddy Megwa, on Monday, August 12, follows the discovery that 99 of the said graduates and two others on exemption were fraudulently mobilised despite being ineligible for the scheme.
Established in 1973, the NYSC is a programme created by the Nigerian government to foster national unity, promote patriotism, and equip young people with self-employment skills, among other objectives.
Every Nigerian graduate under 30 must participate in a one-year service, during which they are deployed to various states to work in different sectors.
The NYSC emphasised its unwavering commitment to maintaining the integrity of the national service programme by ensuring that only qualified graduates from local or foreign universities are recognised and issued certificates of national service.
The statement reads, “This is to inform members of the public that the under-listed 99 persons and two (2) others on exemption were fraudulently mobilised by the University of Calabar for national service during the 2021, 2022 and 2023 NYSC service years.
“Management of the National Youth Service Corps hereby restates its strong commitment to ensuring that unqualified locally and foreign-trained Nigerian youths, especially those purported to have graduated from unaccredited universities, are not recognised while only qualified persons are issued with NYSC certificates of national service.”
“Arising from the above, the certificates of national service of the under-listed persons have been invalidated forthwith by the NYSC management.”
The NYSC also advised the public to confirm the authenticity of NYSC certificates of national service, exemption, and exclusion letters through the NYSC National Directorate Headquarters in Abuja before accepting them for any official purpose.
“Members of the public, especially corps employers, government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), corporate and religious organisations, multi-national companies, corps producing institutions and other critical stakeholders of NYSC are to take note of this advertorial for prompt action,” the statement added.
Usman Mustapha is a solution journalist with International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: [email protected]. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M