Ani: We Do Not Hold Orientation Programme in States With Serious Security Challenges
As prospective corps members prepare for Batch ‘B’ 2015 NYSC Programme, the NYSC Director in charge of Mobilisation, Mr. Anthony Ani, shares with Adebiyi Adedapo the transformation in the mobilisation process, why prospective corps members choose preferre
What has changed in the mobilisation process since you assume office as the director? The transformation is that we left the analogue system and it became digital, before I became the director of mobilisation, prospective corps members had to go to their schools, check their call-up numbers and after take the printed the call-up letters to their schools; they have to travel from wherever they are to go and pick-up their call-up letters.
Also there were opportunities for impersonation, some fraudulent practices were taking place; people who were students of the institutions were inserted in some schools, but now, we have gone digital, prospective corps members can do their registration from the comfort of their houses, do the printing, even at the camp, just with their biometrics, they register within seconds unlike the situation before now.
We have also linked up with JAMB, which makes it imperative that anybody we are mobilising must have been a student. So that also help us to know those who are fake and those who are real. Another thing that has made it unique is that Nigerian foreign trained graduates hitherto will come to Nigeria to fill the form, after that, travel down again to pick their call-up letters. They don’t need to do that any longer, anywhere they are in the world, they can now do their registration, get their call-up letters, print it on arrival and proceed to the camp that is the difference between what we were doing before and what we are doing now.
Prospective corps members now have the opportunity to choose three preferred states, out of which they will be posted to one of the states. What is this policy meant to achieve?
It is very simple, to make things easier for the corps members. You know there are many syndicates going around, telling people lies: we know the DG, we know the directors, bring this, bring that, and these people are misled, that has been eliminated, the second thing is that in doing this self-deployment, we used ICT to do it, even though we asked the corps members to choose, it is teleguided. When prospective corps members go online, they cannot see their states of origin to choose on the system, they cannot see the states where they schooled, and as they are making the choices, they must choose from other geo-political zones to choose. For instance, those who are from the south, the system will guide them to go and chose state in the north, so it is not just anything they like that they can do. In doing that also, we took cognisance of the carrying capacity of every orientation camp, for instance, FCT cannot take more than 2,500 corps members, so it has been programmed, it gets to 2, 500, FCT will be shut down, you won’t see it again to choose, the same thing with Lagos and other states. What it means is that we have given people opportunity to go and make these choices and eliminate all manner of corruption; corruption is not only when you talk about money, even when you lobby. What we have done is that we have now given a level-playing ground for all the prospective corps members, the ones in the village and the ones in Abuja, they have been given equal opportunity, so you can’t say that because you know the director of corps mobilisation, you will get FCT or Lagos, or because you know somebody working in NYSC. What we have done is to give everybody a level-playing ground, to be fair and transparent in what we are doing.
Does that explain why NYSC cancelled requests for concessional postings?
You see when people talk about concessional posting, we still have concessional posting, but the prospective corps members will do it while registering online, it is in two areas, it is either on marital or health grounds. On the platform, a married lady will provide the name of her husband, where he resides and submit the marriage certificate and his identity card, the system will automatically post such a person to where her husband is; that is concession we have given. Now, if the person is sick, the system will ask the nature if sickness, the name of the doctor treating such person and it will go further to put the doctors practising licence number, because such number will be verified with MDCN. Once that is done, the system will post such prospective corps members to where the doctor is, that is another concession. But I know the concession you mean, the concession where letters are flying about, that is ended, we have cancelled it, so that things will work better for Nigeria, we have joined the change mantra. We have said no, there is nothing like that kind of concession.
What is the position of NYSC on pregnant women and nursing mothers?
Our position is that the orientation course is something that a pregnant woman cannot go through, anybody who is pregnant, it will be difficult for that person to go through that course, because it is rigorous, hectic, the exercises there, such a person cannot bear. And because the orientation course is a compulsory aspect of NYSC programme, we are saying that married lady who are pregnant, should please stay out of the orientation; we are not going to take them. We have made it known because we are doing that to protect the unborn child and to protect the life of the woman carrying; it is an abuse to allow pregnant women into orientation programmes and it endangers their health. Secondly, nursing mothers should not bring their babies to the orientation camps, because that that environment is not suitable for a child, if you bring you child there, it is child abuse and we will not allow it, we will rather protect the child, and so we want them to stay out of the camp, take care of their children and then be healthy.
How true is it that NYSC will be made voluntary?
It is not true, the NYSC is guided by law, and that law, the NYSC Act, is part of the Constitution of Nigeria, so the operators of the NYSC cannot do anything outside the law. Having said that, if people are saying it should be voluntary, that is a suggestion that is yet to receive the blessing of the law, and we cannot go outside the ambit of the law, so whatever