The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) says collaboration with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) will simplify biometric verification for prospective corps members nationwide.
The scheme said the partnership would also enable seamless registration through ongoing technology-driven reforms aimed at improving service delivery and reducing bottlenecks in mobilisation processes.
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Director-General of NYSC, Olakunle Nafiu, a brigadier-general, said this during a forum with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja ahead of NYSC’s 53rd anniversary celebration scheduled for 22 May.
He said the partnership formed part of efforts to deepen digital reforms within the scheme, adding that registration, mobilisation, payments and record-keeping processes had become largely digitised to improve operational efficiency nationwide.
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“We are trying to move with technology so that registration processes will be easier for corps members. Some go to register and wait for hours in designated cybercafes or shops.
“So we are looking at a situation whereby, from the comfort of their homes, they can log in, provide details and register. We are working with NIMC to get biometrics,” Nafiu said.
Nafiu said corps members currently used electronic identity cards accessible through mobile phones, while verification procedures were being streamlined further through integration with the national identity database to reduce administrative bottlenecks nationwide.
He attributed mobilisation delays to increasing graduate numbers, budgetary constraints, inadequate orientation camp facilities and delays by tertiary institutions forwarding approved Senate lists for prospective corps members participating annually in the national scheme.
The director-general said that the Federal Government increased NYSC’s annual mobilisation quota from 400,000 to 450,000 corps members, although rising enrolment continued placing pressure on camps, staffing strength and operational funding nationwide.
He said the scheme, established in 1973 with about 2,346 corps members, currently had fewer than 6,000 officials managing more than 450,000 participants across Nigeria amid growing administrative and infrastructure challenges.
Nafiu said inadequate orientation camp facilities remained a major challenge because some camps could no longer accommodate corps members posted to participating states, in spite of increasing annual mobilisation figures recorded by the scheme.
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He commended Lagos, Gombe, Adamawa, Enugu and Osun for construction and renovation projects aimed at improving orientation camp capacity and accommodation for corps members.
“The Federal Government pays allowances and funds orientation activities, but state governments are expected to provide good camp facilities. Local governments should also provide corps lodges and support facilities.
“Some governors will feel that because they donated rice, cows or money, they have done enough,” he said, adding NYSC was engaging stakeholders to improve support for activities across Nigeria,” Nafiu explained.
(NAN)
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