I am of the opinion, as evident by the image below, that the former DG NYSC signed all the certficates for that year ( 2009 ) before retiring in Jan, 2009.

Hope this helps..!!!
For you to have passed out of service in 2009 means you started in 2008 right?

By the time you were in your PPA, your state NYSC officials were preparing your discharge Cert. So since its not possible for the DG to sign all cert one by one, they do a mass print of the Cert with his signature on it.

In the case of an applicant applying for exemption, the DG would need to approve first. So the NYSC officials would need show the sequence and evidence of the approval

Someone has busted this lie on another thread..