Prospective corps members will now be required to provide fitness certificates from accredited public health facilities at orientation camps around the nation, according to a recent National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) announcement.
The certificate of fitness will become a condition for camp registration and will take effect in the 2022 Batch “C” Orientation Course, according to a statement from NYSC spokesperson Eddy Megwa on Tuesday, November 1.
According to Megwa, the scheme will use the fitness exam to determine the health state of corpers and to filter out those who fake their medical concerns.
In his words,
“In order to avail the credible scheme information on their health status and also protect them from exploitation by unscrupulous persons.
It is pertinent to note that the NYSC Orientation Camp Clinics across the nation are managed by the National Health Insurance Authority with the supervision of consultants from tertiary health institutions.
In view of the regimentation and physical demands of some activities of the NYSC orientation program, the management of the scheme introduced the presentation of a Certificate of Fitness from recognized public health facilities by prospective corps members as a requirement for registration at the orientation camp.
The essence is to enable camp officials to manage those who are not fit to undertake certain activities in the camp. This has been largely misunderstood, leading to extortion of some prospective corps members by fraudulent individuals in their bid to secure such documents some of which may not stand a test of integrity,”
