Top Story

How undercover reporter breached our system – NYSC

"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"

Samuel AkpanJanuary 4, 2024803

The Undercover reporter, who exposed the booming certificate racketeering in neighbouring African countries, actually breached our system to be mobilised twice for the National Youth Service Corps scheme, an official said on Thursday.

The Director of Public Affairs, NYSC, Mr Eddy Megwa, while appearing on Channels Television monitored by Persecondnews, said the reporter changed his email address and phone number to be mobilised again for the scheme.

Megwa also pointed out that the NYSC also conduct aptitude test for foreign students to ascertain the authenticity of their foreign certificates and also verify if they are qualified to take part in the scheme.

He said: “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 Senates of the various universities, stating the number of graduates to expect from them.

“It is not our duty to assess their certificates, but we have resorted to inviting foreign students and giving them test to know their abilities.

“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.

“Further investigation revealed that his name was smuggled into the list of graduates from a particular university,” Megwa recallled.