NYSC and JAMB admission letters
THE Director-General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Brig-General Walter Oki, recently declared that his organisation would henceforth verify the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) admission letters of prospective corps members. His reasons: No one should gain admission into the university outside of the stipulated channel, and that it is part of the duty of the NYSC to sanitise society, and check fraud.
The Director-General's concern that proper admission procedures into higher institutions should be observed cannot be faulted. Indeed, it is in the interest of his organisation that the products of its 12-month para-military service are, on their honour, the graduates they claim to be.
It may even be that the proposed measure is informed by a desire to reduce, through a legitimate process, the ever-increasing number of participants in the scheme. The NYSC, in the past few years, has had to take on far more participants than it can conveniently manage. In addition to the youths who are properly qualified to serve, a number of not-so-young persons, who are statutorily barred from the programme on the grounds of age, also join the scheme to earn a one-year "income bridge", thus increasing the numbers unduly. Some candidates with the collusion of NYSC officials even stay on the programme beyond the scheduled period of service.
However, these are not sufficient reasons for the role that the NYSC wants to assume; the proposed measure is equally faulty for a number of reasons: First, nowhere in the NYSC Decree No. 24 of 1973 is the body empowered to screen the pre-degree qualification of participants. Second, JAMB matriculation examination is not the only entry channel into higher institutions. Some universities and polytechnics for example, run remedial, diploma and part-time courses, the products of which are offered direct admission. Third, the mere presentation of a JAMB admission letter is not a fool-proof evidence of qualification or the absence of sharp practices. Such a document can be faked, or acquired fraudulently.
It must be admitted though that Gen. Oki's statement is an indictment of the verification processes of the schools whose graduates participate in the NYSC scheme. He is raising alarm obviously because similar breaches may have been observed in the past. But it is the duty of each institution to cross-check with the JAMB authorities, and be assured of the genuineness of the admission papers tendered by students. In this matter, it is not only the immediate credibility of the student that is at stake, but the quality and job market value of graduands, the credibility of certificates and the corporate integrity of the school. JAMB admission documents can be verified, at the time of entry into the school, and in the final year, before certificates are issued.
The JAMB admission list can also be posted on the body's website where it can be accessed and verified by whoever may be interested in doing so. Similarly, higher institutions and the NYSC should also publish the names of both their intakes and graduands on their websites. But all things considered, the verification of admission letters and sanitising society should be the least important item on the agenda of the NYSC.
Thirty-one years on, it is worth asking if the achievements of the scheme have justified its existence. The most important objective for which the NYSC was created was to promote national unity and integration. Given the state of Nigeria today, it cannot be said that this objective has been achieved. Indeed, Nigeria today is in many ways worse than it was in 1973 when this well-motivated scheme began. Not surprisingly, many families are reluctant to allow the posting of their children to certain parts of the country.
There is so much tension and distrust in the land. New realities have changed individual and national aspirations and goals. There is the additional problem of inefficiency and corruption on the part of NYSC officials. Government needs to review the purpose, structure and the operations of the NYSC, weigh its achievements so far and decide on its continued existence in whatever form, if at all. This is the main challenge ahead.
