posted February 11, 2023
Civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, (HURIWA) on Saturday, commended the leadership of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) for putting effective measures in place to curb infiltration of the scheme by certificate forgers.
HURIWA, in a statement by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, also debunked a malicious publication by Daily Post. HURIWA stressed that it NEVER at any point said a syndicate within the NYSC is issuing fake certificates (aka ‘Oluwole’) to members of the public. The group said the statement in the online publication was not issued by HURIWA at all but the figment of the imagination of the writer.
HURIWA recalls that at a press briefing on February 9, Onwubiko addressed an issue that it described as a fraud, highly organized blackmail, and total falsehood, the unsubstantiated allegation of possessing a forged NYSC discharge certificate against the Governorship Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Enugu State, Dr. Peter Ndubuisi Mbah by some faceless, unknown and self-styled groups including the so-called Total Support for Rule of Law and Justice Initiative and Enugu Progressive Forum.
At the briefing in Abuja, HURIWA described the two groups as political tools being deployed by the political oppositions in Enugu State to wage an unsubstantiated, reckless, and wayward campaign of calumny against the gubernatorial candidate of the PDP.
In a statement on Saturday, Onwubiko said, “Instead of facing the main issue which is that the allegation against the PDP governorship candidate in Enugu by the faceless group is invalid, the publication came up with something totally alien and not what was said at the briefing.
“HURIWA, by this press statement, hereby debunks the publication and reiterates its commendation to the NYSC management under the new leadership of Brigadier-General Dogara Ahmed.
“HURIWA also commends the NYSC for setting up the certification department under the scheme which produces all NYSC Instruments, issues all Certificates of National Service to deserving Corps Members, processes of genuine cases of Correction and Omission cases of Certificates of National Service, and issues Letters of confirmation in lieu of Lost Certificate of National Service.
“HURIWA also commends the NYSC for identifying and sifting prospective corps members with fake credentials and making them stay off its orientation camps across the country.
“HURIWA hails the scheme because it has developed technological infrastructure and digital innovation that has helped unified the past and present records of the scheme including the area of certificate collection which has helped to make forgery an impossibility by any person.”