The National Youth Service Corps has announced that prospective corps members will henceforth be required to present fitness certificates from recognised public health facilities at orientation camps across the country.

Adding that the certificate of fitness will become a requirement for registration at camps, the Director, Press and Public Relations of the NYSC, Eddy Megwa, said in a statement that the new policy begins with the 2022 Batch ‘C’ Orientation Course.

The director said the fitness test is to help the scheme ascertain the health status of corpers and to fish out those who lie about their medical conditions.

Megwa said, “In order to avail the scheme 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.

“In view of the regimentation and physical demands of some activities of the NYSC orientation programme, the management of the scheme introduced presentation of Certificate of Fitness from recognised public health facilities by prospective corps members as a requirement for registration at the orientation camp.

“The essence is to enable camp officials 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.“