A row has erupted over the treatment of corps member Ushie Rita Uguamaye, widely known as Raye, after she claimed she was denied her National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) discharge certificate for speaking out about Nigeria’s economic hardship under President Bola Tinubu.
Former Vice President Alhaji Atiku Abubakar condemned the move in a post on X, asking, “What manner of impunity is this? Everything should not be subjected to politics.”
Raye, who completed her one-year mandatory service, said she attended the certificate distribution with her colleagues but was told, “No certificate for you.”
According to NYSC, she failed to complete her April clearance, but Raye dismissed the explanation as “dishonest,” alleging that her Local Government Inspector “kept asking me to go to the back” before refusing to clear her and seizing her file.
- FALSE CLAIMS? Good Governance Advocates Defend Hon. Usman Kamfani – “He Did Not Accuse the House of Collecting ₦1–₦3m”
- Jigawa ranks best on fastest growing of IGR in North
- NASSI lauds Gov Namadi for supporting 600 women Tom Brown Producers
- Prime Initiatives urges CSOs to promotes poor’s needs in Budget
- Five Men In Dock Over Owo Church Massacre That Left 50 Worshippers Dead
She added bitterly, “After one year of moving to another man’s land to serve my country, I ended with no certificate… I genuinely wish I wasn’t a Lagos State Corper because it’s a waste of my time.”
The controversy stems from her viral March video criticising the rising cost of living, which she later claimed led to threats from NYSC officials demanding she delete the post.
In June, reports emerged that her service year had been extended by two months, a claim NYSC denied but her lawyer insisted was “true beyond doubt.”
The affair escalated when her LGI summoned her to the Eti-Osa Local Government office, where her Place of Primary Assignment was located.
She insists the process was a deliberate attempt to punish her for exercising free speech.
“The deep-rooted anger I feel is crazy because I don’t know who to direct it to,” she wrote on Instagram.
Atiku urged the authorities to “take urgent steps to ensure she gets her discharge certificate,” calling the situation “unacceptable.”
Critics say the handling of her case risks undermining public trust in the NYSC as an institution meant to foster national unity.
The NYSC has yet to issue a fresh statement on the matter, as outrage grows online.
