The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has cautioned corps-producing institutions across the country against fraudulent mobilisation of graduates, urging them to strengthen data integrity and internal validation processes to protect the credibility of the scheme.
The Director-General of NYSC, Brigadier General Olakunle Nafiu, gave the warning on Wednesday in Abuja at the 2026 Batch ‘A’ Pre-Mobilisation Workshop, themed “Enhancing Service Delivery Across the NYSC Mobilisation Value Chain.”
Nafiu stressed the need for heads of tertiary institutions to exercise stronger oversight over mobilisation activities, while also calling on Desk Officers to embrace continuous training in order to keep pace with evolving standards and technological advancements.
He reaffirmed the scheme’s commitment to strict adherence to its Standard Operating Procedures, improved collaboration among departments, area offices and state secretariats, enhanced monitoring and evaluation, as well as discipline, professionalism and ethical conduct at all levels.
The NYSC boss also called for stronger inter-agency collaboration, regular stakeholder review meetings and increased reliance on data-driven decision-making guided by clear timelines and defined responsibilities.
According to him, the mobilisation process must be repositioned to become more efficient, transparent, accountable and people-focused.
“This involves delivering timely and accurate results, free from undue influence, with clear accountability for actions and inactions,” Nafiu said.
He described the mobilisation process as a complex ecosystem involving the production, validation, mobilisation, deployment and management of Prospective Corps Members, noting that despite progress in digital mobilisation, several challenges persist.
These challenges, he said, include poor data quality at source, limited technical capacity among operators, resistance to full automation and weak feedback mechanisms.
Nafiu further identified violations of established guidelines, uploading of unqualified graduates, inconsistent academic records, data discrepancies and deliberate manipulation of records for personal or illegal gains as practices undermining the integrity of the mobilisation process.
He warned that institutions found culpable of fraudulent mobilisation would face appropriate sanctions.
Earlier, the Director of the Corps Mobilisation Department, Mrs Rachel Idaewor, urged Student Affairs Officers to discharge their duties with diligence and integrity, ensuring that all information submitted accurately reflected the true profiles of Prospective Corps Members.
She described NYSC’s collaboration with key stakeholders, including the Federal Ministry of Education, Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, National Board for Technical Education, National Universities Commission and SIDMACH Technologies, as critical to improving service delivery.
Participants at the workshop included Student Affairs Officers from corps-producing institutions nationwide and representatives of regulatory agencies, including the National Universities Commission.
