How undercover reporter breached NYSC system to enroll twice, “It is not our duty to assess their certificates, but we have resorted to inviting foreign students and giving them tests to know their abilities.”
How an undercover reporter who was previously enlisted for a mandatory one-year program in 2019 may be re-enlisted for the same program in 2023 has been clarified by the National Youth Service Corps Scheme (NYSC).
Speaking yesterday on a Channels Television program, NYSC Director of Public Affairs Mr. Eddy Megwa claimed that the reporter had updated his phone number and email address to be re-drafted into the program.
“It is not that we don’t have checks and balances in place to detect possible breaches of the system. When the undercover reporter first put in his data, the system rejected him because he had served in the scheme before.
”He later changed his email address and his phone number which made the system to accept him. And he was initially posted to Osun State
“He did that because he was out for a particular purpose. We are looking at the situation and ensure that it does not happen again.
”We don’t have a database of graduates to serve in the scheme. We only rely on the lists sent to us by the senator of the various universities, stating the number of graduates to expect from them,” he said.
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Despite stating that the National Identification Number, or NIN, was introduced into the scheme three years prior, Megwa was unable to provide an explanation for why the reporter’s biodata in the NIN differed from what he provided for his second mobilization, which would have raised an alarm for the scheme to identify him.
Megwa responded, “It is not our duty to assess their certificates, but we have resorted to inviting foreign students and giving them tests to know their abilities,” when asked what steps the program takes to determine whether persons with foreign certificates are qualified to participate.
” In the course of doing that, we have made startling discoveries. Ask some of them to write a simple essay, you will be surprised at what you get. I have some of such materials that I can show you.
”NYSC is an elite scheme, not for illiterates and the means of communication is English Language. In 2006, the then DG of NYSC, Brig-Gen. Yusuf Momoh went to an orientation camp and asked a supposed corps member the title of his final project, the answer he gave was incredulous, and further investigation revealed that his name was smuggled into the list of graduates from a particular university.”
Megwa went on to say that the program was working with the Foreign Affairs Ministry, the federal Ministry of Education, and other organizations to follow those who were studying abroad and when they returned with their diplomas.
In the meantime, Okechukwu Favour, President of the National Association of Nigerian Students, or NANS, in the Republic of Benin, has pleaded with the federal government to reconsider the outright prohibition on diplomas and certificates from higher education establishments in that nation.
According to Favour, who also made an appearance on the television program, more than 15,000 Nigerian students’ lives in the Benin Republic were in jeopardy.
“We have over 15,000 Nigerians studying in that country alone. The ban will affect legitimate students who are at various levels of their studies.
”We are not saying the government should not punish anybody who has engaged in criminal acts, but it is not in all the universities that such a thing is happening.
“Also, it is not all the students that are involved in such terrible acts. While one agrees that the undercover reporter has helped to expose some misdeeds, he also breached certain conventions in the process. Our appeal is that let the guilty ones be punished, spare the innocent, ” he stated.
Recall that after a reporter revealed he was able to complete a degree program in the Benin Republic in six weeks and was even recruited for the NYSC one-year program, the Federal Government imposed an embargo on graduates from select international colleges.
Prof. Tahir Mamman, SAN, the Minister of Education, announced the formation of a commission to review the foreign university accreditation process as a whole as well as the certification process.
