By ZAKAA LAZARUS
The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has urged Corps Producing Institutions in the country to strengthen their internal data validation mechanisms as part of steps to sustain the credibility of the Mobilisation process.
The Director General (DG) of NYSC, Brigadier General Olakunle Nafiu, made the call in his address at the 2026 Batch ‘A’ Pre-Mobilisation Workshop, which took place today in Abuja with the theme “Enhancing Service Delivery Across the NYSC Mobilisation Value Chain.”
He stressed the need for heads of the institutions to exercise greater oversight over mobilisation activities within their domains, and Desk Officers to undergo training to keep them abreast of evolving standards and technologies.
The DG reaffirmed NYSC’s commitment to its Standard Operating Procedures; strengthening collaboration across Departments, Area Offices, and State Secretariats; improving performance monitoring and evaluation; as well as reinforcing discipline, professionalism, and ethical behaviour at all levels.
Nafiu called for stronger inter-agency collaboration, regular stakeholder review meetings, and more commitment to data-driven decision-making, guided by clearly defined timelines and responsibilities.
While assuring that the NYSC Management remained committed to discharging it’s responsibilities with patriotism and integrity, he urged all stakeholders to continue to work with the Scheme towards excellence.
“As we look ahead, the NYSC mobilisation process must be repositioned to be efficient, transparent, accountable, and people-focused.
“This involves delivering timely and accurate results, free from undue influence, with clear accountability for actions and inactions, while remaining responsive to the needs of Prospective Corps Members and other stakeholders.
“Improving service delivery throughout the mobilisation value chain is, therefore, not optional; it is both imperative and urgent,” he said.
The DG said the mobilisation process was a complex ecosystem of interconnected actors and systems, which included the production, validation, mobilisation, deployment, and management of Prospective Corps Members (PCMs).
He added that while the Scheme had made significant progress in digital mobilisation, it observed some challenges like poor data quality at the source, limited technical skills among some system operators, resistance to full automation and inadequate feedback mechanisms.
Nafiu pointed out violations of established guidelines, upload of unqualified graduates, inconsistent academic records, data discrepancies, intentional record manipulation for personal or illegal gains, and weak internal verification systems, all undermined the integrity of the Mobilisation process
He, therefore, warned the Corps Producing Institutions against fraudulent Mobilisation of graduates for the National Service, adding that the Scheme would apply sanctions against erring ones.
Earlier in her welcome address, the Director, Corps Mobilisation Department, Mrs. Rachel Idaewor, urged the Student Affairs Officers (SAOs) to perform their roles with diligence and integrity.
She tasked them to ensure that the information they provided accurately reflected the true profiles of their Prospective Corps Members.
Idaewor said the Scheme’s partnerships with critical stakeholders in the mobilization process, such as the Federal Ministry of Education; Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board; National Board for Technical Education; the National Universities Commission (NUC), and SIDMACH Technologies, were invaluable, adding: “We should all come together as a cohesive team, drawing inspiration from our past successes while embracing the challenges that lie ahead.”
Participants at the workshop included Students Affairs Officers of all the Corps Producing Institutions in Nigeria as well as representatives of the National Universities Commission and SIDMACH Technologies, amongst others
