The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) is seeking a partnership with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to simplify its online registration process and enable prospective corps members to register from anywhere in the world.
This is expected to ease registration for foreign-trained graduates, who currently travel to Nigeria for the exercise, and reduce congestion at cybercafés during mobilisation.
NYSC Director-General, Olakunle Nafiu, disclosed this during a visit to the NIMC , Director-General Abisoye Coker-Odusote, in Abuja.
He said the Scheme planned to develop an application that would allow prospective corps members to complete their registration using personal devices without visiting cybercafés.
Nafiu identified biometric capturing as one of the major challenges to remote registration but expressed confidence that NIMC’s national identity database could help address the problem.
He said the proposed partnership would enable the Scheme to verify applicants’ identities while simplifying the registration process.
The NYSC director-general commended NIMC for its efforts to provide Nigerians with verifiable identities and pledged the Scheme’s support for the Commission’s objectives.
He expressed optimism that the next online registration exercise would be more convenient, allowing prospective corps members to register from their homes.
Responding, Coker-Odusote pledged the Commission’s support for the initiative, saying eligible Nigerian youths could access registration services through a more convenient digital platform.
She explained that Nigerians with National Identification Numbers (NIN) who download the NINAuth application could use the platform for remote identity verification.
She added that the digital identity platform could also support registration and verification for examinations and other services, including WAEC, JAMB, NECO, NYSC and international travel.
Coker-Odusote thanked the NYSC director-general for the initiative and assured him of the Commission’s commitment to a productive partnership.
