By; BAYO AKAMO, Ibadan.
The Director-General, National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Brigadier General Sule Kazaure, on Thursday in Ibadan hinted that Corps Members that missed biometric clearance without approval will not be considered for payment of their monthly allowances.
Brigadier General Kazaure dropped this hint while speaking at the opening of a training workshop on biometric clearance of Corps Members in local government areas entitled: Ensuring Accountability in Corps Members’ Activities Using ICT held for South West officers of the scheme.
He disclosed that the newly introduced biometric clearance of Corps Members is to eliminate payment of allowances to absentee and ghost Corps Members, adding that information generated through the biometric clearance exercise would form the basis for the determination of disciplinary cases.
Brigadier General Kazaure who was speaking through the NYSC Director, Corps Welfare, Mrs. Bose Okakwu said “It is in keeping our operations abreast in the prevailing technology trend that the NYSC scheme in 2014 took a giant stride in ensuring that the mobilisation, deployment, registration, and relocation processes of Corps Members are ICT based.
“This new process has, however, received great ovation from the public for its positive impact in areas such as elimination of sharp practices perpetuated by fraudulent individuals and reduction of errors in our data and workload on our staff, Corps Members and other stakeholders” he said.
The NYSC DG emphasized that “the improvement on the new process also brought about the introduction of the use of biometrics for mobilisation and registration of Corps Members at orientation camps, which has not only helped in fast-tracking the process but also reduced impersonation and registration in proxy, including ineligible graduates”.
Brigadier General Kazaure noted that the resounding feat further reaffirmed NYSC’s determination to adopt the use of biometric in the clearance of Corps Members for both weekly CDS and the monthly clearance and that “it is imperative to state that the feedback received from North West zone, South East zone, and the two pilot locations -Lagos and FCT, are very encouraging and positive and I believe the South West zone will follow suit.”
Commenting on the workshop, he stated that it was organised to give participants the needed knowledge in the Information Technology based clearance and monitoring of Corps Members in line with the anti-corruption crusade of President Muhammadu Buhari.
In her own remark, NYSC Director of ICT, Mrs. Christy Uba said the ‘NYSC LGAS Attendance and Clearance System,’ was fashioned out to enhance adequate monitoring and monthly clearance of Corps Members, including CDS at the various places of primary assignment, using their fingerprints and personal data.
