The Kwara State Polytechnic on Monday said a graduate of the institution, Rukayat Akinola, was not mobilised for the National Youth Service Corps programme because her portal was hacked.
ALPHA NEWS NG learnt that Akinola, who graduated from the accounting department of the institution, lamented that her details were used to mobilise another person for the NYSC.
The 25-year-old and her colleagues graduated sometime in 2021 and after she received her certificate around March 2022, she commenced registration for the scheme.
The accountant visited a cyber cafe close to her house to do the registration, but when she logged in her details into the NYSC portal, she discovered that they had been used to mobilise another person for service in Oyo State.
In a bid to resolve the situation, Akinola lodged a complaint at the NYSC office in Kwara State, but was told that the body only worked with records provided by the school.
The Oyo State indigene said she was advised to return to her school to lodge an official complaint so the issue could be resolved.
“Since I reported to the school, I have not heard anything till date. Anytime I called the director of student affairs to ask about my case, he would say NYSC had not replied to the school’s letter regarding my case. I want to serve; I need the NYSC certificate because of where I am working.
“The girl using my details to serve is aware of what she did. She has changed her number because of what she did,” the accountant said.
Reacting to the issue, the spokesperson for the school, Yunus Abdulkadir, in a statement on Monday, said Akinola was prevented from serving because her portal was hacked by the impostor.
The imposter bears the same surname with the graduate.
The statement read, “The attention of the Kwara State Polytechnic has been drawn to the above caption, ‘Graduate stranded as Kwara poly, NYSC mobilise impostor for service,’ in one of the Nigerian dallies where the portal of one of our graduands, Akinola Rukayat Atinuke, was hacked/infiltrated to prevent her from performing the mandatory national service
“The impostor, Akinola Ojuwapelumi Grace, who hacked the portal of our ex-student was never a student of the Kwara State Polytechnic and was not mobilised originally by the polytechnic. Since the NYSC registration for mobilisation is online, the hacker capitalised on it to infiltrate the NYSC portal and changed the details of our ex-student.
“Immediately the ex-student, Akinola Rukayat Atinuke, lodged the complaint that someone else had used her portal for mobilisation and currently serving in Oyo State, the polytechnic authority contacted the Director-General of the NYSC, intimating him of the infiltration of the NYSC portal and the Director-General of the NYSC swung into action and directed the NYSC Coordinator of Oyo State to dekit the impostor, Akinola Oluwapelumi Grace and hand her over to the police for investigation and prosecution.”
Abdulkadir stated that the institution had petitioned the state Director, Department of State Services, to assist in apprehending the impostor.
“Similarly, the authority of the polytechnic has craved the indulgence of the Director-General of the NYSC to remobilise Akinola Rukayat Atinuke and correct the anomaly that occurred to her portal,” the statement said.
The Director, Press and Public Relations, NYSC, Eddy Megwa, said Akinola would be mobilised for service with the next batch, adding that DSS operatives were on the trail of the fleeing impostor.
She said, “The girl who faked being a normal student was discovered and the school wrote to NYSC that she took the bona fide student’s matric number to register, which is a criminal offence. So, they (school) wrote to NYSC and we dekitted and blocked her from the NYSC platform.
“She (impostor) knew that there was a problem and she took to her heels. The DSS has been on her trail and as we speak, she is not a corps member because she has been dekitted and her profile blocked on the NYSC platform.
“The bona fide student is going to be mobilised in the orientation that is coming so that she can register and follow her mates to serve.”