The National Youth Service Corps has been
criticised for its online call-up letter, which requires prospective
corps members to pay N4,000 to download a copy.
According to the President of Women
Arise, Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin, charging a fee to download call-up letters
is like defrauding Nigerian graduates.
The NYSC management had earlier defended
the fee, saying the online portal was designed to safeguard the lives of
intending corps members and to eliminate forgery.
Defending the payment, the Director of
Corps Mobilisation in NYSC, Mr. Anthony Ani, had said, “Before
orientation, every prospective corps member has to pass through a long
process, including travelling to collect call-up letters. Sometimes many
corps members have died while travelling to get their call-up letters,
and most times, school officials may not be there.
“Coming to camp, you meet long queues
during registration, while others bring fake call-up letters. Some
prospective corps members change their dates of birth because they want
to serve and get discharge certificates. Some institutions are admitting
students without passing through the Joint Admissions and Matriculation
Board and enfolding them into unaccredited courses.”
However, Okei-Odumakin described the step taken by the NYSC as exploitative.
She said, “I believe this is another
avenue of exploiting the already pauperised Nigerian youths, who are
daily being subjected to all forms of exploitation without recourse to
the prevailing economic reality in our society.”
Similarly, a lawyer and social
commentator, Olufunke Oluwole, though commending the NYSC’s initiative,
said the fee should have been less.
Oluwole said, “No, Nigerian should not be
cheated again by a parastatal coming up with get-rich-quick schemes for
enriching the pockets of a few. The proposed payment is unacceptable
and we should, with one voice, raise a standard against this kind of
behaviour rearing its ugly head again.
“I am appalled at the news that the NYSC
intends to charge a fee for downloads of call-up letters. It is indeed
reminiscent of the Nigeria Immigration Scheme employment saga that
resulted in loss of innocent young lives, a few months ago.”
The legal practitioner added that the
NYSC directive to prospective corps members “is an obvious failure of
the system to understand that its processes and manner of application
are a function of its performance and such a burden should not be passed
to the beneficiary at any point in time.”
Source: Punch
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