The National Youth Service Corps has said that discharge certificates to be given to corps members at the completion of their service year will now carry the corps members’ passport photographs.
The Corps said that the move was to check the cases of fraud the previous certificate was being used to perpetrate.
In a statement at the unveiling of the new certificates in Abuja, the Director General of the NYSC, Brig. Gen. Joseph Olawumi, said the introduction of the new certificate was part of the NYSC’s plan to keep up with global best practices.
Represented by NYSC’s Director of Certification, Aliu Daura, the DG maintained that although the old certificate was still valid, the new one was introduced to correct the defects in the previous one and would be introduced on October 15.
“In our concerted effort to make the operation of the NYSC conform with global best practices, the scheme engaged in the holistic ‘e-NYSC solution’ with effect from batch ‘C’ 2014, where prospective corps members register online before proceeding to the orientation camps.
“This resulted in the enhancement of issuance of NYSC certificates namely: Certificate of National Service, Certificate of Exemptions, and Letters of Exclusion.
“With effect from Batch ‘C’ 2014, all certificates of national service bear passport photographs of the corps member at the upper right hand corner of the certificate.
“This is to guarantee the security of our certificates from forgery and to block all chances of impersonation.
“Therefore, Batch ‘C’ 2014 corps members, who are due to pass-out on Thursday, 15 October 2015, will have their certificates embossed with their photograph.
“Employers are encouraged to forward any certificate purportedly issued by the scheme for verification of its authenticity or otherwise.
“Effort is being made by the scheme to also make the verification of all NYSC certificates to be automated for easy access by the general public.”
The DG equally revealed that the new certificate will also come with new security features that will make the authenticity of the certificate verifiable over the internet.