UNICAL discovers 178 fake soldiers, reports them to NYSC — Management — Featured — Headline News – Nigeria and World News
The University of Calabar (UNICAL) has clarified that it was the management of the institution that detected and reported the 178 fake corps members to the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) and not the other way around as reported in some quarters.
The university stated this in a statement issued by the Executive Secretary of the university, Mr Gabriel Egbe.
The university, however, commended the NYSC for releasing the names of 93 ineligible candidates who were fraudulently mobilised into the one-year scheme in 2023 following a complaint lodged by the university.
“It should be noted that it is the university management that exposed the criminal acts and brought them to the attention of NYSC and other organisations, not the other way around,” the statement read.
“We believe that the action taken by NYSC is a step that will help in dealing a devastating blow to criminal impunity and hopelessness. While we commend the Marines for this action, we need to inform the public of the facts of the entire eerie saga of how names ineligible for national service exemption and participation have made their way into the university portal.”
According to the Director-General, information was provided to the management in September 2023 from an internal source that certain individuals who had not graduated were participating in National Service claiming to be from the university, and investigations were carried out which confirmed the allegations and uncovered 10 more cases of intrusion into the NYSC portal.
“Following this report, we wrote to NYSC on October 4, 2023, pleading with them to arrest and prosecute the 11 individuals involved. On October 24, NYSC responded, in line with our resolve, that they would launch a full-scale investigation into the matter.”
“On October 31, the university wrote to the ICPC Uyo Resident Office, requesting them to investigate the matter.
“The management had agreed to work clandestinely with NYSC and security agencies to apprehend the culprits but the unfolding events necessitated the formation of a full-fledged investigation committee. The committee ceased operations on December 18, 2023. Meanwhile, NYSC was informed about the committee on November 5,” the statement said.
“The investigation has uncovered 167 new instances of criminal intrusion into the portal, bringing the total to 178.”
The statement further read, “We wish to state that the names concerned, as stated in the report, are in no way part of the graduation records of the university. The records include the Senate Approval Results (SAR), Summary List (for printing certificates) and Master List (for uploading in NYSC format), all submitted by the respective departments.”
“Strictly speaking, the names were not presented by the departments, nor uploaded on the portal and therefore do not appear on the hard copies printed from the portal and presented to NYSC at the pre-mobilisation workshop.
“In other words, these ineligible people were not actually mobilised by the universities but were somehow smuggled into the portal from who knows where. The fact that these names do not appear on our graduation rolls or mobilisation rolls obviously means that the certificates purportedly issued by our universities are also fake.”
The agency explained that as a result of investigations, the data entry officer, Mr Obi Endurance, who is currently under investigation by ICPC, has been suspended by the agency.
“The announcement by the corps is a sequel to the above developments. The reference to the University of Calabar in this story does not and should not in any way detract from the tremendous achievements already recorded by the current university authorities in its total repositioning towards efficiency,” the statement read in part.
Source: guardian.ng