By CHRISTIAN NJOKU

The University of Calabar (UniCal) has urged the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), to release the names of the remaining 85 former students who indulged in fraudulent mobilisation for the scheme.

The university’s Registrar, Mr Gabriel Egbe, said in a statement on Wednesday in Calabar that the institution uncovered the fraudulent act and alerted the NYSC.

Egbe said that the university submitted a total of 178 names of people who indulged in fraudulent mobilisation to NYSC camps and those with suspicious matriculation numbers and departments to the scheme.

“This was contained in a detailed report which was sent to the NYSC on Feb. 1, 2024, and received on Feb. 6.”

The registrar commended the NYSC for taking action against 93 persons in the report, saying, “we urge the scheme to unmask the remaining 85 persons.”

He said that In Sept. 2023, the university management got intelligence reports that some students who had yet to complete the requirements for graduation were already participating in the scheme.

“As a result, we commenced an internal investigation, which confirmed the allegations and uncovered 11 cases of unauthorised access to NYSC portal.

“This led us to send a letter to NYSC in Oct. 2023 urging it to apprehend and prosecute the individuals involved, they responded and agreed to cooperate with full-scale investigation.

“The university also sent communication to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, and established a full investigative committee.”

He said that the report was also forwarded to the Federal Ministry of Education, and the National Universities Commission.

“The committee completed its work on Dec. 18, 2023, revealing 167 additional cases of criminal infiltration into the NYSC portal, this brought the total to 178 fraudulent entries,” he said.

He said that none of the names involved in the scandal were found in the university’s records as graduates, and that such names were never uploaded by any department into the NYSC portal.

Egbe said that as a result of the findings, the university suspended and commenced investigation on its Data Entry Officer, Mr Obi Endurance.

He said that It was important to fully unmask the perpetrators of the fraudulent act saying that invalidating certificates or de-kitting the culprits would not expose those behind the crime.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that NYSC recently invalidated the certificates of some former students of UniCal over fraudulent mobilisation to youth service. (NAN)

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