The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has made fitness certifications mandatory for prospective corps members to present at orientation camps across the country.
The new policy was declared openly in a statement by NYSC spokesperson, Eddy Megwa, on Tuesday.
Megwa publicized that the policy is in view of the regimentation and physical demands of some activities that are essayed by corps members during the orientation programme.
He said the importance of this new policy was to enable camp officials to recognize and be able to supervise those who are not fit to undertake certain activities in the camp.
“The essence was to enable camp officials to manage those who are not fit to undertake certain activities in the camp,” Megwa said.
“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.”
Megwa noted that prospective corps members will henceforth undergo fitness tests at the NYSC clinic at the orientation camp with effect from the 2022 Batch ‘C’ Orientation Course.
He noted that this is to avail the scheme of credible 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,” he said.
NYSC urged prospective corps members to comply with the directive.