By 
By Ridwanullahi Odofin
The Student Affairs Unit of Kwara State University, Malete, is responsible for the co-ordination of the multi-staged processes required to mobilize students of the University for the National Youth Service Corps scheme. This results into the actual mobilization which is usually carried out three (3) times a year (Batch A, Batch B and Batch C).
The Unit entertains complaints from students on matter that relates to the one (1) year compulsory scheme. Also, the Unit offers assistance to students by providing necessary information and clarifications on matters of mobilization, re–mobilization and concessional posting. Hence, the mobilization exercise comes in different stages:
The first stage of the National Youth Service Corps is pre-mobilization of eligible students of the university. At this stage, KWASU usually collect the details of their students by asking them to fill mobilization form. Although, most institutions automatically enlist their qualified candidates for NYSC without asking them to fill any form.
The second stage is to paste the name of all the mobilized Prospective Corps Members for cross-checking at the Student Affairs Unit of the university. Although, some Corps Producing Institutions usually do not release the list publicly. But most Institutions, including KWASU, paste the list on the notice board at the Student Affairs unit for interested persons to cross check their names before final submission to the NYSC.
The third stage is the submission of the Senate/Graduation Approved List to the NYSC. KWASU usually upload the soft copy of the senate list, and submit it to the NYSC by uploading it on the NYSC portal.
NYSC will make the list accessible online for Prospective Corps Members to check, after they received the hard copy of the Senate list which is usually duly signed by the Registrar of the university.
After the pasting of the list and necessary corrections made, KWASU will take the hard copies of the Senate list to the NYSC Headquarter in Abuja for verification. If the list uploaded online (soft copy) tally with the ones submitted to the NYSC Head Office (hard copy), then the process will continue, but if it does not tally, all names causing the variance would be removed (send to error list).
NYSC, during verification will also check if the names on the list that was submitted to them are in accordance with the JAMB Matriculation list, the names at variance again will be sent to error list. The idea of all these process is to curb corruption and manipulation in some institutions. It is in the attempt to curb corruption that the idea of the Senate list goes through some rigorous verification processes. In the year 2018, JAMB noticed that some schools mobilized individuals who did not get admission through JAMB. To stop that, the idea of JAMB Matriculation was introduced.
So, after the numerous cross-checking and necessary measures, the Senate list will then be visible online at the NYSC portal for Prospective Corps Members to verify their names. Even if the senate list is pasted on the Institution’s notice board, students will still be getting “No Record Found” if they check the senate list on the NYSC portal until KWASU uploads the list on the NYSC portal and submit the hard copy of the list to NYSC.
We are taking initiatives by making the list accessible to students – Dn. Dada
In my engagement with Deputy Registrar and Student Affairs Office, Dn. Michael Dada, he said that the unit is taking initiatives by making the list available for the students to check, in case of any error before the final uploading. He also sheds light on the challenges and gave a panoramic view of how the unit is surmounting those challenges.
According to him, “Part of their schedule of responsibility is mobilizing students for NYSC on the window given by NYSC. Once students graduate, the senate approved list is forwarded to the Student Affairs in order to prepare notice for all the Prospective Corp Members (PCMs). The unit expect that those of them who are within the age bracket for service are mobilized, while those who had pass the age of service will also be mobilized to collect the certificate of exemption. So far so good, the mobilization has been going smoothly.
“As soon as students graduate from this university, we issue notice to Prospective Corp Members (PCMs), requesting them to come to Student Affairs Unit to obtain mobilization form. The form is ameans of obtaining their personal information like; full names, matric no, year of graduation, JAMB registration number,etc. afterobtaining the forms, they are required to fill the forms, attach necessary documents and submit back to the student Affairs Unit. The unit will cross check their details to make sure that it corresponds with what is on their JAMB portal.
“There has been cases where students change their names upon getting to the university. This has always affected such students at the time of NYSC mobilization. All this directives are provided for students before they submit the forms back. The unit enters all thedetails and start the processing. NYSC has a platform where the Data Entry Officer, Mr. Mojeed Balogun, does the entry. The Unit takes the initiatives on her own by printing out the supplied data for students to see clearly, and for them to come around around to make necessary corrections. The unit does this to forestall mobilization problems.
“Sometimes students have problems by the time NYSC mobilize them, and affected students usually call even at night when we are out of work to lodge complaints regarding mobilization. Such complaints include but not limited to not being able to register. To avoid the complaints, the unit decided to make the list available and accessible before it is forwarded to NYSC. The students comearound to check the correctness of their names. Once that is done, the unit make necessary amendments.
“Once NYSC gives the mandate to upload, it is done effortlessly. After completing the work here, it will forwarded it to the Registrar’s portal, who will give approval. After the approval, uploading will be done and the list will be printed for the Registrar, Dr. Wasilah Kilelomo Sallee, to sign every page of the document with the university stamp. Thereafter three bounded copies are takento Abuja for approval. Once the approval is granted, PCMs will start to see their names. Students will then be able to proceed with their registration, while those with one problem or the other are usually directed to go back to their various institutions to file such complaints.
“If there is disparity in names, NYSC has a window for that. In their dashboard, there are various ways to address issues. If matriculation number is not correct, there is an excel sheet with the institution where necessary corrections will be made, after which the Registrar will sign before it is uploaded to the NYSC portal again. But to avoid those errors, we have decided to do the corrections internally before we eventually upload. It is a new innovation and the unit hasbeen able to achieve this because it has ample time.
…recounting the challenges of NYSC mobilisation
“Every setup has its challenges. Once a practitioner or the desk officer knows what he is doing, there’s no problem that is insurmountable. When problems arise, solutions are provided. Recently at the Vice-Chancellor’s in-house committee, the issue of disparity in names was raised. Some students have their names different from the one they had on the JAMB portal. This is a problem but there’s no problem too big to be solved. The window to solving those problems has always been employed. Affected students have been asked to submit necessary documents such as JAMB Admission Letter, School Issued Certificate and others. Thereafter, the Registrar will write the Director General, NYSC on account of those issues and all the documents will be forwarded online.
“In the last Batch A Stream II, there was a lady whose name was abbreviated because it is too long. When it was forwarded to NYSC, they rejected it, wanting the initial to be clearly spelt out. The unitprepared necessary documents and I wrote in the comment section that “Right from the time she was offered admission here KWASU, that was the name she bare. She also made a request on her own. However, both appeals were rejected. In the wisdom of the university as part of students welfare, a window was open for the student to do correction of names. Senate took a decision to approve the name for her and it was forwarded back to NYSC where it was approved.
“NYSC has a window for matriculation number correction. Once the matric number and year of graduation is wrong, the university will make the corrections on their excel sheet and will forward it to corp mobilization. Once that is done, such student get cleared by NYSC, through the Department of ICT in charge of the North Central.
Hurdles in enlisting the students for mobilisation
Mr. Andrew Otonekwu, who administers mobilization form for students, speaks on how they (students) storm the Student Affairs Unit upon hearing the commencement of the mobilization exercise and that they had to adjust their schedule in order to attend to them.
According to him, since February when the mobilization exercise began, students have been trooping to the Student Affairs Unit to begin the process of mobilization. The officer has been coordinating it by giving the students forms to fill and the last number presently is 1287. We are try as much as possible to educate them on how to fill the form appropriately despite the huge pressure involved in the process because we noticed that some of them are married and might want their husband’s name to be included in the mobilization form, with the hope that it reflects on the NYSC certificate which is wrong. The essence of the pre-mobilization exercise is to crosscheck students information with the ones they have on the JAMB Portal,so that they can be successfullly mobilized by NYSC. By the time we finish collating the list, the data entry officer will work on it by uploading it on the NYSC database.
On Data Entry, Error Upload, Name Abbreviation and others
Mr Mojeed Balogun, the Data Entry Officer, gave insights on his role in collecting data of students, cross-checking the data to see if it corresponds with the information on the JAMB Portal and uploading of the data on the NYSC database.
According to him, “The Data Entry Officer, is responsible for the collation of data for the mobilization of Prospective Corp Members and he assist them in all their inquiries about NYSC matters. The data gathered is usually uploaded on the NYSC database. These data enables the institution to check whether the student meet up with the requirements for graduation and that of NYSC or not. Before that, students are asked to fill the mobilization form given to them and to attach the necessary documents contained in the directive. After they had submitted same, it will be will crosschecked using the senate list to be sure that the students are eligible for NYSC mobilization. Once students data are gathered, we go ahead to update information on them on the NYSC database before final uploading. After the final upload, we usually seek the Registrar’s approval to print the final hard copy in four places and take the copies to Abuja for submission. After the submission, the registration commences immediately and students will be able to proceed with the registration.
The data Entry Officer laments that they encounter a lot of challenges while mobilizing students for NYSC. The crucial one is disparity in the name of the students. That is, the name on their JAMB Admission Letter is totally different from the one on their certificate. For instance, some students may have two names on the Jamb Admission Letter and three on their certificate. Such problem arise when a student register for Jamb Admission with certain name and thereafter add another another name upon securing admission to KWASU. When situations like this occur, students are usually sent back to their various universities. This will prevent them from participating in the NYSC orientation. When they come back to the university with their complaints, before now, after they might have collected their posting letters, they are asked to bring the letter and write the Registrar, seeking ammendments of names for the affected students. The unit would attach their JAMB Admission Slip, Certificate and ID which will be verified and signed by the Registrar. After which it will be sent to the Director General of NYSC in Abuja for necessary ammendments online. Although the process takes longer than usual, we will scan the documents and upload it on the portal for verification by NYSC officials. They either approve or disapprove such complaint. There are cases where they still deny the approval after going through the tedious processes. Unfortunately for the students, the recent Batch B training that was held in Abuja last week, it was learnt that NYSC has discontinued the process of disparity in names. That is, if a student has two names on JAMB Portal and three on the Certificate, such student will not be allowed at the NYSC orientation camp. Also, the channel for rectifying this issues has been closed, whereas the problem still loom within the system. All I would say is that the problem emanate right from the point of admitting the students into the university. Student should not be allowed to add name(s) that does not reflect on their JAMB Admission Slip during registration,in order not to create problem for them. I will suggest that the Admission Officers should look into this and ensure that students comply with their directives.
According to him, “Another problem area is students supply of wrong data on the mobilization form given to them. This will lead to error upload. By error upload, it means the student data will not appear on the NYSC portal due to error. The use of abbreviation or initials in name is another challenge being encountered. Some students abbreviate their names on JAMB Admission Letter thereby creating a serious problem for them. NYSC will not accept any name that is abbreviated. There’s no way an abbreviated name will be registered on the NYSC portal. Most times, students were asked to go to JAMB Office to rectify such before participating in the mobilization exercise.
Again the officer stated that before the Registrar gives the final approval for the final upload, the unit will print and paste the list for students to verify their names if there’s error; but it has been noticed that most of the students do not come around to rectify such problems, until after the time might have elapsed. He submitted that it was because students were not well enlightened and informed about how the process work. Hence, the need for proper sensitization among the undergraduates before graduation.
The Vice-Chancellor’s unrestrained support
The Dean, Student Affairs of the university, Prof. Moshood Mahmood Jimba, remonstrated on the Vice-Chancellor’s impact on the smooth running of the mobilisation exercise which allow qualified students to participate in the National Youth Service Corps scheme.
He added that effort from the Student Affairs Unit and that of the university under the leadership of Prof. Muhammed Mustapha Akanbi SAN has changed the narrative for credible mobilisation process while providing the needed impetus – financial and moral support.
According to him, “The seamless transition of the mobilization exercise is as a result of the Vice-Chancellor’s consistent support. He is always predisposed to all our yearning, especially the ones that concerns the welfare of the students. First, he ensures that while students are being mobilised three times in a year, issues relating to mobilisation is given adequate attention. Second, he set up an in-house committee that sees to the disparity in names. Third, he establish a great of rapport with the JAMB in order to forestall any issues that will affect mobilisation of students. In this regard, Mrs Aladodo, the officer entrusted to the Jamb Office, has been doing a great job.
“With all this put in place, issues concerning mobilisation has been reduced to the barest minimum in the recent Batch B mobilisation exercise. We took initiative to make the list available for students to check and make necessary corrections before proper uploading on the NYSC portal.
Comments