The Director-General, National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Brig.-Gen. Johnson Olawumi, on Thursday warned that any corps member and corps producing institutions caught in sharp practices would be prosecuted henceforth.
Olawumi gave the warning in Owerri at the opening of the 2016 Batch ‘A’ Pre- Mobilisation workshop, with the theme: “The Role of Stakeholders in Sustaining the Gains of NYSC Computerised Process.”
The director-general said that recent experience arising from e-mobilisation process had revealed some irregularities which must be brought to public notice.
He identified some of these to include: corps members’ registration by proxy, falsification of medical and marriage documents, prospective corps members providing false information to manipulate their posting.
He also mentioned sharp practices by some corps producing institutions.
“Let me hereby warn that henceforth these sharp practices will no longer be condoned and any prospective corps member and corps producing institutions caught will be prosecuted,’’ he said.
According to him, the practice where parents request for concessional postings for their children on health or marital grounds when such information was not provided during the on-line registration exercise would not be accepted.
Olawumi said the workshop provided opportunity for NYSC management and the stakeholders in the mobilization process to interface and review past mobilisation activities.
He said this was with a view to finding solutions to the challenges encountered during the process.
“The idea is borne out of the need to always ensure that the mobilisation of our youths for the mandatory one year national service is stress-free and of high integrity,’’ he said.
Olawumi said the computerisation of the NYSC in 2014 made registration easy at the camps, while prospective corps members were saved from the cost and danger of distant travels to their institutions to collect call-up letters.
“More importantly, the computerisation programme has brought credibility and transparency in the NYSC mobilisation process by eliminating the issues of ghost or fake corps members.
“It has also enabled the scheme to know the total number of corps members and indeed their disposition anytime, at the press of a button,” he said.
Olawumi said despite the achievements, the gains of the initiative could only be sustained if individual stakeholders were aware of their role and play it effectively.
He made a plea to Gov. Rochas Okorocha of Imo for speedy completion of the permanent orientation camp of the NYSC in the state.
He said the state had been the leading corps producing state in the country.
Responding, Okorocha commended the management of the NYSC for organising the workshop.
He said the scheme must be encouraged because of the peace and unity it had brought to the nation.
The governor called for acquisition of skills by youths in various fields rather than dependence on white collar jobs.
“Job has shifted from the conventional civil servants job to the more skilled area and NYSC is the better place to get the youths to be involved in skilled labour for sustenance,” he said.
Okorocha expressed optimism that despite the challenges facing the country at present, Nigeria would be among the greatest countries in the world in due course.
The Director, Corps Mobilisation Department of the NYSC, Mr Anthony Ani, said the workshop would provide an opportunity for assessing the level of implementation of the resolutions of previous mobilisation workshops.
He said it would also review the past mobilisation exercise, identify challenges and proffer water-tight solutions with a view to achieving a seamless mobilisation process.
Ani said that the knowledge-gap between the Students Affairs Officers and the Data Entry Officers in previous mobilisation, led to unexplainable errors.
According to him, the meeting with the deployment and relocation officers will also be an integral aspect of the workshop. (NAN)
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