The University of Calabar (UNICAL) has issued a statement addressing the recent withdrawal of National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) certificates from over 100 purported graduates.
The Explainer had reported that the NYSC had earlier announced the invalidation of certificates issued to 99 individuals who were illegally mobilized for national service between 2021 and 2023, as well as two exemption certificates that were wrongfully granted.
UNICAL Registrar Gabriel Egbe claimed the university itself uncovered the fraudulent activity, stating, “It was the university management that exposed this criminal act and brought it to the attention of NYSC and other organisations, and not the other way round.”
According to Egbe, an internal investigation launched in September 2023 revealed 178 cases of “criminal infiltration” of the NYSC portal. The university maintains these individuals were not legitimate graduates, as their names do not appear in official records.
“Not having these names in our graduation or mobilisation list clearly means that their certificates purportedly from our university are also fake,” Egbe explained.
The scandal has led to the suspension of UNICAL’s Data Entry Officer, Obi Endurance, who is currently under investigation by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).
UNICAL claims to have notified the NYSC, ICPC, Federal Ministry of Education, and National Universities Commission about its findings, urging further investigation and action against the culprits.
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The university expressed commitment to maintaining academic excellence, stating, “We share the confidence that, in the same patriotic spirit of exposing these 93 names as we had urged, NYSC would equally issue a release about the remaining 85 persons out of the 178 reported by the university without any prompting.”
UNICAL has called on the ICPC to conclude its investigation, emphasizing that merely invalidating certificates is insufficient to uncover those responsible for the fraudulent activity.
