Prospective corps members must present valid fitness certificates from recognised public health facilities at the orientation camps in all states henceforth, says the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).
The new policy is contained in a statement dated Tuesday, November 1, released by the Public Relations Officer of the NYSC, Eddy Megwa, Naija News reports.
According to the statement, the new policy begins with the 2022 Batch ‘C’ Orientation Course. Megwa noted that the document would form part of camp registration requirements.
He noted that the fitness test is aimed at helping the scheme ascertain the health status of the corps members to fish out those who lie about their medical conditions.
The statement maintained that the youths must avail the scheme of credible information on their health status and protect them from unscrupulous persons’ exploitation.
“It is pertinent to note that the National Health Insurance Authority manages the NYSC Orientation Camp Clinics across the nation with the supervision of consultants from tertiary health institutions.
“Given the regimentation and physical demands of some activities of the NYSC orientation programme, the scheme’s management introduced the presentation of Certificate of Fitness from recognised public health facilities by prospective corps members as a requirement for registration at the orientation camp,” the statement noted.
It added: “The essence is to enable camp officials to manage those 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.“
