About 400 fake University graduates have been discovered on the list of participants for the next batch of National Youth Service Corps programme scheduled to commence on October 15.
The Minister of Youth Development, Senator Akinlabi Olasunkami who disclosed this during a visit to the NYSC headquarters at Maitama in Abuja yesterday, said the 400 fake entries emanated from University of Nigeria Nsukka, Enugu State and the Polytechnic, Ugbokolo, Benue state.
“Reports reaching my office indicate that Benue Polytechnic Ugbokolo and University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus have mobilised a total of 400 fake intending corp members that have been discovered from the list sent to NYSC,” he said. An interministerial com-mittee earlier set up by the Federal Government to audit the list of corp members in 2006 came up with a startling revelation that over 4,000 fake graduands were mobilised for the service year.
The Minister who warned staff of the youth scheme against conniving with fraudulent persons to bring in unqualified candidates to participate in the programme, said government would henceforth cause for publication names of institutions that submits fake graduates for NYSC scheme.
Olasunkami disclosed that government has last Wednesday released an additional sum of N7bn demanded by NYSC for the mobilization of corp members bringing the total for the service year to N22bn.
He said the authorities of the NYSC has been directed to computerize its activities adding that by "next year the whole NYSC operations would have been fully computerized and this would help put a check on incidence of fake corp members".
He also the inter ministerial committee on mobilization corp members has been given a further mandate to carry out auditing of submissions from all the Universities and Polytechnics that produce graduates for the NYSC programme.
Commenting on some the challenges of the youth scheme as highlighted by the NYSC Director-General Brigadier-General Yusufu Bomaoi, the Minister said the building headquarter has been delayed for 8 years due to poor supervision and funding but would now be completed by the end of November.
According to Olasunkami, the initial cost of the building project was N597m as at 1999 when it was awarded but due to cost variations it has now hit N1.4bn.

Chai see money wey ignite itself underground where them keep am since due to heat!! All sort of foreign currencies .....speculation has it that its for Obj coz it was found in his farm buh I think thats just some propaganda though ...buh come think of it what will one man be doing wv all dz cash hoarding underground in the midst of crazy inflation hian??