The National Youth Service Corps has warned unqualified graduates with fake credentials, especially from West African universities, to stay off its orientation camps as anyone caught will be prosecuted in court.
The NYSC noted that as its 2020 Batch A Orientation Course opens in the first week of March, measures had been put in place to fish out fake graduates from any tertiary institution.
The NYSC Director-General, Brig Gen Shuaibu Ibrahim, stated these in Abuja, according to a statement on Sunday.
He added that during the last 2019 Batch C online registration, over 20,000-foreign-trained Nigerians uploaded their results online.
However, only 3420 showed up for the physical verification because they knew that if they showed up with their fake certificates, they would be prosecuted.
He said, “The scheme has held a meeting with the registrars and student affairs officers of some African universities, including the vice-chancellors, rectors and provosts of corps producing institutions in the country on the need to sanitise the mobilisation process. We have read the riot act to them.
“The NYSC alone cannot do it, we need other stakeholders to assist us and we have started the process and I am sure things are getting better. I want to appeal to our youths to do the right thing and not to cut corners in whatever they do in life, because there is always reward for hard work.
“Members of the public are warned not to fall prey to the antics of online scams that promise preferential deployment, internal posting, relocation and other services for a fee. No corps member will be deployed to any state where there is security breach.”
The DG also urged corps members to avoid the wrong use of social media and any action that might expose them to danger.
He noted that the scheme had designed a ‘Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development Programme’ to empower them