National Youth Service Corps, NYSC extends biometric clearance to South East.

The National Youth Service Corps has extended the deployment of biometric technology for clearance of Corps members to the South East of the country.

This is coming after a successful pilot testing in the FCT and Lagos State in 2015 as well as the take-off of similar project in the North West during the last quarter of 2016.

A training workshop for NYSC Inspectors from all the South East states is taking place today in Enugu with the aim of getting them acquainted with the processes and procedures involved in the biometric clearance.

Declaring the training open, the Director-General, Brigadier General Sulaiman Kazaure, said it was meant to give participants the requisite knowledge in IT-based clearance and monitoring of Corps members, and to ensure smooth take-off of the process in the zone from February 2017.

Kazaure said the Scheme’s migration to ICT-based operations from 2014 was aimed at effectively managing its operations in line with the prevailing technological trends.

“The migration led to the elimination of sharp practices perpetuated by fraudulent individuals and reduced error and workload on our staff, Corps members and other stakeholders,” he said.

He further stated that the introduction of the use of biometrics for mobilization and registration of Corps members at Orientation camps had not only helped in fast-tracking the process, but also reduced impersonation and registration of ineligible graduates.

“Its success reaffirmed our determination to adopt the use of biometrics in the clearance of Corps members during weekly Community Development Service and monthly clearance,” Kazaure added.

Earlier in her welcome address, the Director of ICT, Mrs. Christy Uba, said the NYSC Online Integrated System, whose journey started in 2004, had positively impacted on service delivery in the scheme.

The Director said the digital migration had been enhancing and simplifying various operations such as the mobilization process, deployment, monitoring, printing of Certificates of National Service and production of identity cards amongst others.

“It has reduced to the barest minimum several problems hitherto experienced by Prospective Corps Members, Corps members, staff, Students’ Affairs Officers and other stakeholders,” she said.