Fake graduates arrested in Taraba sentenced to prison.

The fake graduates arrested by the National Youth Service Corps during the Batch B Orientation Course in Taraba State last July have been jailed three years for presenting fake credentials.

The NYSC Director-General, Brig-Gen Shuaibu Ibrahim, stated this on Monday in an interview with our correspondent in Abuja. Ibrahim said that apart from the conviction, the prosecution of other alleged fake corps members was ongoing in Kebbi, Abia and a few other states.

He added that the two fake graduates claimed to have finished from the Isfop University of Cotonou in the Republic of Benin.

The NYSC had in September 23 after the Batch B orientation course handed over 65 intending corps members to the police for allegedly tendering fake certificates.

The DG said, “All the fake graduates arrested during the NYSC camp are undergoing prosecution. The ones that we secured their jail terms are in Taraba.”

“The court jailed two of them, while one was discharged and acquitted. We are further trying to investigate that person.”

“But two other fake corps members were jailed three years with an option of N10,000 fine. We still have other prosecutions ongoing in Kebbi, Abia and other states in the federation.”

“The NYSC cannot do it alone. We require a high-powered committee made up of various stakeholders to tackle this menace of fake certificates being used for national youth service. The committee will include the Federal Ministry of Education, the National Universities Commission, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the NYSC. Such inter-ministerial committee is very crucial to nipping this issue of fake certificates in the bud.”

“The committee could come up with a report that foreign trained graduates should be subjected to a basic test. This is how we can sanitise this system.”

“If you say you are a graduate of International Relations with Second Class Upper Division, we will give you a basic question; what is International Relations? Most times, this is where the problem starts for many so-called graduates”.