From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
Director General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), General Dogara Ahmed, has accused foreign high institutions of using poor quality paper to print academic credentials of encouraging mobilisation of fake graduates for national service.
In his remarks during a meeting with some Corps Producing Institutions (CPIs) in Africa in Abuja, yesterday, he specifically singled out high institutions in Benin Republic, Togo and Cameroun as major culprits in mobilising fake foreign graduates for service.
Ahmed equally warned that as from 2024 Batch, the scheme would no longer accept new submissions of names of foreign graduates that finished years ago.
Reading the riot act to the foreign CPIs, the NYSC boss warned that it would be in the best interest of schools operating in the neighbouring countries to ensure fake graduates do not dent their images during the NYSC screening processes.
He said: “As a human scheme with genuine concern not to frustrate these graduates, the scheme has trained some of its staff to be able to identify and adopt other measures to verify all authentic foreign-trained graduates.
“Except for the recent connivance of some unpatriotic school operators, this strategy has, for years, proved very effective in fishing out fake/half back graduates. In recent times, there has been increased level of dishonesty and connivance from several quarters by unpatriotic Nigerians and management has resolved to adopt new measures.
“The use of poor quality paper by neighbouring countries for printing of academic credentials has encouraged faking by desperate Nigerian. To check this trend, all CPIs in Benin Republic, Togo and Cameroun are strongly advised to use high quality paper with unique security features such as water marks for production of degree certificates and transcripts,” he said.
While cautioning the instructions, Ahmed said: “It is in the best interest of schools operating in the neighbouring countries to ensure fake graduates do not dent the image of their schools during the NYSC screening processes. This can further be enhanced with the use of high quality papers for printing of their academic documents.
“While submitting the master list of graduates, CPIs should ensure there is no omission because, henceforth, the list would be used to assist in verification of certificates for those who completed service before the introduction of the master list from the affected schools.
“Those whose names are missing on the master list of the school would be considered as fake graduates. Similarly, with effect from the 2024 Batch A service year, inclusion of names of people who graduated years ago would no longer be accepted in new submissions.
“This is to foreclose the chances where collation officers could collaborate with people already parading fake certificate to have their data captured in the master list of the schools for financial gains,” the NYSC DG said.
Admitting minor improvements in mobilising of PCMs, Ahmed said: “Let me once again reiterate the determination of management to involve all relevant stakeholders in the sanitisation of the mobilisation process in the foreign-trained division.
From the records, there has been significant drop in the number of unqualified persons, compared to few years ago when the physical verification of foreign-trained graduates was introduced. We are optimistic that the holistic implementation of resolutions, including those of today would impact positively on the mobilisation process.”