DG admits shortcomings in producing corps members
From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
The management of National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has threatened to sanction any Corps Producing Institution (CMI) that failed to return unclaimed Exemption Certificates still in their possession.
Director General of the scheme Brigadier General Yushau Dogara Ahmed issued the warning while addressing participants in the 2023 Batch ‘C’ pre-mobilisation workshop held in Abuja on Thursday.
General Ahmed also frowned at the deliberate action of several corps producing institutions in failing to sensitise final year students of their institutions on NYSC matters.
He equally lamented that many institutions have resisted attempts and requests by the scheme to be part of the sensitization of final year students, warning that the management has directed the compilation of the defaulting institutions.
The NYSC DG who admitted that there are still teething challenges in producing corps members, however noted that Prospective Corps Members (PCM) get entangled in avoidable problems due to lack of information, leaving the management of the scheme to take the heat of public resentment.
He said: “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 threatened.
On the sensitization of final year students, he said: “I would like to also stress the importance of the sensitization of final year students on NYSC matters. The feedbacks received show that some institutions fail to fully mobilize their students to attend the sensitization programme.
“Even more disturbing is the fact that on several occasions, requests by our officers to be allowed to visit some institutions for the exercise have been turned down on flimsy excuses. This attitude is completely unacceptable, and will no longer be condoned.
“After all, when Prospective Corps Members (PCM) get entangled in avoidable problems due to lack of information, it is the NYSC that takes the heat of public resentment.
“The Corps Mobilization Department has been mandated to compile the list of schools that are not willing to open their gates for us to disseminate information to their students for appropriate sanctions,” he noted.
Admitting shortcomings, General Ahmed said: “The energy and resources invested are indicative of our determination to continually improve the process.
“However, while we have introduced several measures to eliminate flaws, it is quite worrisome that there are still shortcomings, especially on the part of some CPIs,” he said.
He said that the theme of the workshop; ‘Enhancing data integrity for seamless mobilization process” would not have come at the right time to eflect the commitment of the scheme to maintain credible mobilization data.
“Despite several measures unanimously agreed upon at previous workshops, there are still breaches that constitute hindrance to the achievement of the desired objectives. I must, therefore, reiterate the need for CPIs, as major sources of the mobilization data, to take adequate steps to enhance their integrity.
“You will recall that before we commenced the inscription of course of study and date of graduation on the NYSC Certificate in 2021, we had cases whereby graduates mobilized based on their supposed fields of studies, later confessed to studying different courses, especially those that were not accredited.
“Other infractions that are products of insider abuses must be eliminated completely. Although our records show that some of the infractions that were source of serious concern have reduced compared to the last few years, we shall continue to tackle observed lapses until we are able to attain error-free mobilization process. The ultimate aim is to have data that will be completely reliable,” he noted.