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28.08.2021 Social Justice Comfort Etim Graduated in 1998. UNICAL has Not Released her NYSC Exemption Certificate since Then

Published 28th Aug, 2021

By Ibrahim Adeyemi

In 1998, Comfort Etim graduated from the University of Calabar (UNICAL), aged 31. Rather than join other graduating students in the mobilisation for the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme, Comfort opted for an exemption certificate because of her age.

Nigerian graduates are mandated to undergo a one-year programme, serving their fatherland through the NYSC scheme. However, with the age limit, graduates like Comfort who are above the age of 30 are exempted from the service and are entitled to a certificate of exemption.

NYSC came on May 22, 1973, during the Yakubu Gowon administration. Established based on decree 24, it was a tool for rebuilding the nation and promoting national unity among the youth after the civil war.

Comfort Etim

TWO DECADES OF FIGHTING TO GET AN EXEMPTION LETTER

Three years after graduation, Comfort needed her result transcripts and the exemption certificate to enrol in a master’s programme at the University of Uyo (UNIUYO). She got the transcripts but was told the exemption certificate was under processing.

UNICAL wrote a letter to UNIUYO, as requested, confirming that the exemption certificate was being processed. After her master’s programme in 2003, Comfort returned to UNICAL for the exemption certificate but was told “the same old story”.

“Since then, I have been disturbing them,” she told FIJ. “In 2015, one of the staff at the Students Affairs office directed me to my department.

“I showed her the letter that was issued to me, informing me that the certificate was being processed, which had enabled me to be admitted for the master’s programme.”

The Students Affairs official, according to Comfort, checked her record and found out that nothing was “under processing” as claimed. Comfort then went to the university’s Department of Teaching and Curriculum Studies, where she graduated, to meet with the Head of Department (HOD).

“When I got there, the HOD asked me to re-apply for the exemption certificate. I filled the form, but after that, I heard nothing. I went back in 2016 and applied again but nothing came out of it,” said Comfort.

“Last year, I wrote an official letter to the Registrar again. He recommended that I be mobilised, through the Office of the Dean. I learned that my former HOD had directed that I be mobilised.”

Despite the orders, Comfort’s struggle to get her exemption letter had only just begun.

ADMISSION LIST GOT MISSING

Early this year, she visited the department again to find out why promises made had not been kept. This time, she was told to compile her Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) documents. 

But there was a problem. The admission list containing her name had gone missing from the university. When she requested the procurement of a copy, she learnt the list for her year of admission (1995/1996) was missing.

She was asked to go to the registry and the library in search of the missing admission list.

“I checked everywhere and even mobilised so many people to check and it was not found. Since they could not find the admission list for that year, I could not be mobilised because the admission list is needed to clear me at the registry for mobilisation.

“This current HOD sent my name, alongside those that would be mobilised in June and July. My name was jumped because I was not regularised, despite having the admission letter UNICAL gave me.”

Being the only impediment to her mobilisation, Comfort often paid officials who demanded some money to search for the admission list. Yet, they told her they couldn’t find it.

“I’ve suffered,” she told FIJ. “In fact, I don’t really know how I can just overcome this problem. Several times, I have escaped accidents on the road, and now I don’t know what else to do.”

THE LAW AND THE BLUES

On July 23, Brigadier-General Shuaibu Ibrahim, Director-General of NYSC, asked employers not to employ ex-corps members who did not present an authentic NYSC certificate or exemption certificate.

READ ALSO: ‘Ex-Minister Kemi Adeosun Must Be Prosecuted for Forgery’

He said this in Abuja during a legal aid workshop themed ‘Examining the Laws Regulating the Practice of ICT in Nigeria with Particular Reference to Data Protection Regulations’.

He cited the provision of the NYSC Act, which states that for employment anywhere in the federation, every employer has the duty to demand from any graduate a certificate of national service or exemption certificate.

Comfort has tried her best not to flout the law but her nearly two decades of trying has not been fruitful.

When FIJ contacted Christie Chinyere, UNICAL’s head of Education Science Department, she said she assumed the position just five years ago and had tried her possible best to solve Comfort’s problem.

“I’ve made enquiries in this department on her case,” she said. “The mobilisation officer of Science Education Department says she has done everything within her own limits in terms of the documents available in this new department to process her NYSC exemption. It is left for JAMB to regularise her and the lady knows it’s not within the new department’s power.”

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Published 28th Aug, 2021

By Ibrahim Adeyemi

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