In an announcement made last month, Nigeria's NITDA, a body responsible for developing, coordinating, evaluating and regulating IT practices in Nigeria, is set to employ the use of blockchain tech in issuing NYSC certificates within the country.

NYSC (National Youth Service Corps) is a program that requires university graduates within the country to undergo a compulsory one-year service to the nation. After a successful completion of this national service, a discharge certificate is usually issued to the corpers.

Over the years, there have been many reported cases of forged NYSC certificates by youths in search of jobs and other reasons. Even top politicians in the country have been accused of forging their NYSC certificates. This led to the decision by the Director of Legal Services to serve apprehended certificate forgers with jail time or fines, if not both, as punishment.

On the other hand, in an improved approach to curtail this forgery, the director-general at NITDA has agreed to aid in the creation of a system for blockchain-based certificate authentication. The news was announced at the Stakeholders' Policy Dialogue event organized by NITDA in collaboration with Stakeholders in Blockchain Technology Association of Nigeria (SiBAN).

Source: Cointelegraph

This move will supposedly allow Nigeria corpers who actually completed the program to verify their NYSC certificates and authenticate them easily using blockchain technology, thereby paving way for easy identification of forged certificates.

P.S _ It's important to note that this has NOT yet been implemented.

Having said this, let's take a look at the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The good

The first and foremost reason behind this decision is to stop the case of certificate forgery. Besides this benefit, however, the move can be a path to better usage of blockchain technology within the country backed by the government's assistance and approval.

The bad

The Nigerian government has since made its stance on the topic of crypto which is powered by blockchain tech. In an attempt to limit Nigerians' usage of cryptocurrency, many actions that put crypto users at risk in the country have been taken.

For instance, the 2021 crypto ban that led to many Nigerians getting locked out of their accounts because of their association with cryptocurrencies. This wasn't the only attempt at curtailing crypto in Nigeria as a similar action was taken in 2017.

This led to further disappointment in the government, coupled with other issues happening within the country.

So while this may be a cause for jubilation, it's still not a call for the hatchet to be buried, at least not for Nigerian youths.

Also, there's still a lot of work to be done in terms of educating citizens of the nation about the tech. Even with no stats to back up my claim yet, I can affirm that not up to half of the recently discharged youth corpers know what blockchain is. How will they effectively use a technology they don't know?

The ugly

The youths don't care! Over the years, during the crypto ban period, Nigeria youths had to learn how to survive and even thrive with cryptocurrency and blockchain. So you'd agree with me that they'll need more than a move to issue blockchain-based certificate to regain their trust in the nation's system.

What do you think about this?🤔

A genuine move in blockchain tech direction or a cover up?😏