The Director-General, National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Brig.-Gen. Yusha’u Ahmed, has said the scheme will tackle the lapses in the mobilization of corps members.
Ahmed gave the assurance on Thursday in Abuja, at the 2023 Batch ‘C’ Pre-Mobilization Workshop with the theme “Enhancing Data Integrity for Seamless Mobilization Process”.
According to him, records show that some of the infractions that were serious concerns had reduced compared to what happened few years ago.
He said that the ultimate aim is to have data that would be completely reliable.
“In this regard, this meeting will address some infractions identified during the 2023 Batch ‘B’ Orientation Course.
“Among them were deliberate alteration of date of graduation to enable Prospective Corps Members to get mobilized as well as disparities between the names on Statement of Results and those on Call-up letters.
“While these infractions should ordinarily attract sanctions, especially in line with our earlier resolutions, management has decided to give the last warning to the schools involved,” he said.
The D-G urged the Corps Producing Institutions (CPI) to pay particular attention to the issue of poor implementation and outright non-implementation of policies and resolutions as these constitute drawbacks to the mobilization process.
He added that when all resolutions made at the meeting are implemented efficiently, many of the identified challenges would have fizzled out.
He also said that during the 2023 Batch ‘B’ Pre-Mobilization Workshop, CPIs were mandated to return all unclaimed Exemption Certificates and enter the returns online.
“However, some have failed to comply till date. Such delays constitute impediments to our efforts at providing accurate data on unclaimed certificates.
“I wish to therefore, warn that we shall begin to invoke the penalty of withholding new exemption certificates for graduates of any institution that fails to return unclaimed ones,’ he said.
Ahmed also urged the CPIs to sensitize Prospective Corps members (PCMs) against traveling at night when reporting to their States of Deployment.
He said that the sensitization became necessary in view of recent incidents of kidnapping and road accident involving PCMs, all of which occur due to night journeys.
“In view of the attendant dangers, CPIs should sensitize their graduates against night journeys, when reporting to the NYSC Orientation Camps.
“They should be strongly advised to break long journeys and pass the night at corps lodges or other safe places, and proceed on their journeys in the morning.
“On our part, the NYSC Management will continue to accord priority to the security and general welfare of corps members,” he added.
The Director, Corps Mobilization, Hajia Walida Siddiqque, said that the NYSC Pre-mobilization workshop is a forum in which stakeholders critically evaluate the mobilization process for improved service delivery.
She said that it also prepares the ground for the efficient enrolment of qualified participants into the NYSC scheme.
“It gladdens my heart to note that in recent times we have experienced impressive performance leading to great reduction in the mobilization of unqualified persons.
“This is due to the numerous innovations introduced and the enhanced level of collaboration with all stakeholders.
“However, a lot is still required to be done, as it has been observed that there is a growing trend of disparity between uploads by CPIs and the information supplied by PCMs during online registration,” he said.
She also said that enhancing data integrity for seamless mobilization process would not just require new ideas, but also attitudinal change and the desire for thoroughness in data management.
Siddiqque added that data is sacred and any error or manipulation in its application would have negative ripple effects on the progress and development of the country in all ramifications.
