Students from Benue State University (BSU), Makurdi, most especially, those waiting for the National Youth Service, can no longer sleep with their two eyes closed because of the problem they have encountered while trying to register online for NYSC.
READ ALSO: Reps urge NYSC to rescind ban on Benue State University
Their inability to register is due to the two years ban on their school, which prevents the university from participating in the national youth service. The reason for the ban has been given as: “the falsification of age by students of the university in question thereby reducing their age to enable them go for National Youth Service,” which is a great offence and cannot be tolerated by the commission. There are several other reasons but the falsification of age seemed to be the one violated by the students.
However, Benue State University has been on strike on several occasions and that affected the school calendar and added more years to the normal years of graduation and impelled late graduation of students from the university.
In other universities, if students are to graduate in 2014 but due to the strike or any other reason their graduation is shifted to 2015, the universities can still send the graduation date of their students as 2014.
READ ALSO: ARCON to NYSC: Stop sending our graduates to teach in secondary schools
Therefore, when students were to be mobilised for Batch ‘A’ service year, BSU instructed her students to use 2016 in their mobilisation forms as their graduation date even though the graduation took place in 2017 because of the internal strikes that delayed their timely graduation. That was good and I applauded the school.
Thereafter, when the school was to send the data of her students going for Batch A, National Youth Service, 2017 was the year sent to the NYSC by BSU, against the 2016 and that affected many students by preventing them from going for National Youth Service. The graduation date of 2017 made many students 30 years old. If it were 2016, they shouldn’t have been affected because they would have been in their 29th year to qualify them for service.
Because of that disappointment, the affected students rushed to the JAMB office and adjusted their age online to enable them go for the National Youth Service. Also, other students who were coming behind and saw what happened, went to JAMB office and reduced their age to escape what they perceived as future danger to them. After that, NYSC discovered and placed a two-year ban on the school to prevent students at Benue State University from participating in National Youth Service.
READ ALSO: NYSC swears in 2,032 Corps members in Anambra
Please, if you have been exempted from the National Youth Service, try and get your exemption letter from the NYSC, which is equally accepted, and blame your school for being responsible.
____________________________
► Awunah Pius Terwase, wrote from Mpape, Abuja