he National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has defended its new computerised mobilisation process, saying that it is not aimed at exploiting prospective corps members as insinuated in some quarters.
The NYSC introduced a new policy recently, asking corps members to pay N4,000 each before accessing their call-up letters online.
The agency’s Director of Press and Public Relations, Mrs Olubunmi Aderibigbe, however, said in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Friday, that the new policy was in the interest of the corps members.
She said contrary to the false impression, the new process was aimed at improving efficiency and reducing the stress associated with the collection of call-up letters by prospective corps members.
Aderibigbe said a number of factors were taken into consideration before the new system was designed and launched.
“It is wrong for anyone to assert that NYSC is exploiting prospective corps members through the new computerised process.
“Some people seem not to know what some of prospective corps members go through before collecting their call-up letters; many of them travel several kilometres away from their homes just to get the call-ups.
“What we have done is in fact to reduce the cost and risks associated with the collection of the call-ups and to eliminate sharp practices associated with the old process,’’ she said.
The director wondered why some people would tag the new system as exploitative, noting that many prospective corps members spent more than N5,000 to get their call-ups.
She said the management of NYSC remained committed to the welfare and wellbeing of corps members and would not in any way exploit them.
According to Aderibigbe, the new system is a plus for the management of the NYSC because it is a watershed in the history of the agency.
She said that there was no way the mobilisation of prospective corps members would remain the same with the introduction of the new process.
Aderibigbe said the process would also enable Nigerian students in the diaspora to get mobilised with relative ease, while enhancing data sharing between schools and the agency.
She assured stakeholders in the sector that though the system was in its early stage, efforts would be made to improve on observed lapses to make it more user-friendly.
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