Introduction
1.1 Background of the Study
The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) is a programme that involves Nigerian graduates in the development and integration of their country. The scheme covers a one year programme where graduates are posted randomly within the country to serve their fathers land with all diligence and patriotism. Every year more than 5,000 corps members are deployed to each state for one yearservice. This deployment is in three (3) batches namely batches A, B and C. BatchesA and B corps members are usually more in number while batch C corps members arefewer.
Out of this number some will relocate from the state they are deployed toanother state because of certain reasons like marital status and health condition.
Corps members should be posted to cities and states far from their homes and states of origin. They are expected to mix with people of other tribes, social and family backgrounds, to learn the culture of the indigenes in the place they are posted to. It is a way to engender unity in Nigeria, to help youths appreciate other ethnic groupings in the country. During the one year period of service, there is an “Orientation” period of approximately three weeks which is spent in a camp away from family and friends. Within these three weeks period of orientation camp, corps members undergo trainings (physical and emotional education) to prepare them for the task ahead.They validate their registration before the camp, they are required to provide some necessary documents before they could be fully registered for the camp. This internal registration is done manually and usually stressful for the corps members.Only corps members who register before the deadline (usually 12 midnight on the third or fourth day depending on the duration of the orientation) are allowed to participate in the orientation exercise. Within this period, they usually face with the trouble of getting the right information at the right time and also locating the camp region and having all necessary documents at hand.
National Youth Service Corps Scheme, having gained general acceptability nationwide needs a conductive atmosphere and a befitting environment for proper orientation of the youths in Nigeria. The programme also help in creating jobs opportunity for a lot of Nigerian youths. AnNYSC forum dedicated to the NYSC members was recently built to bridge the gapamongst members serving across Nigeria and also an avenue for corps to share jobinformation and career resources as well as getting loans from the NationalDirectorate of Employment. The NYSCprogramme is a programme that preparesyouths to work after tertiary education in universities, polytechnics and theirequivalent. This program is suffering a lot of setbacks such as posting a graduate ofscience programme to appropriate place of primary assignment and also an efficient communication platform with the management bodies and the corps members. Some corps members, due to lack of information, do not effectivelyperform their service. It is expected that this study would help to proffer solution(s) tothese problems.
Okeke (1999) in his theoretical research observed that the programme with such laudable aims and objectives had been fraught with so many problems, among which is the need for well-designed and equipped orientation camps for the orientation and redirection of our youths to help
meet up with the demands of the ever changing society. This study proffers a solution to this. Embracing Information and Communication Technology will go a long way to curb these issues as well.It is befitting for every arm of the NYSC wing to embraces ICT platforms which will enhance effective management of the system.
1.2 Statement Of The Problem
The NYSC orientation camp is a 21 days programme, after which the corps members are moved to a place of primary assignment(PPA). Before and after this 21 days of camping, these undergraduate are faced with the various challenges, being in new system where they have no friends and relations, there usually a problem of getting directions and relevant information, meeting up with the registration date for the camp, providing the appropriatedocuments and keeping these documents safe. Some leave behind necessary document, while another percentage of them misplace important document which cannot be retrieved. A good example of this includes the misplacement of camp identity card which contains your meal ticket. Once the manual registration date is exceeded, any corps member who loses any document pertaining to the orientation camp programme is likely to be decamped. The manual system form does not accommodate the storing of document duplicate or retrieval of document
As a result of these challenges and shortcomings, the researcher intends to implement a new system that will effectively curb this. The primary aim is to implement a system where new corps members in camp can obtain necessary information and a safe space for storage of important files. They will be no need for delays due to the manual form of registration. Each corps member is expected to do the registration online, print out camp identity card and receive all information regards to the camp orientation program and report at the camp venue at the appropriate time.
1.3 Aim And Objectives Of The Study
The aim of these study is to design and implementation an interactive system for prospective NYSC members with all basic information needed for the camp orientation. This is to be achieve through the following ways:
- Develop a database system that will keep records of all registered members within the state.
- Develop an efficient and user friendly registration system for the participating members of the orientation camp.
- Develop a login platform where users can personalize to keep copies of all documents required during the camp.
- Also, with an administrative module for CRUD management
- Again, incorporate an interactive platform where users are updated with all necessary information during their period of service
1.4 Significance Of The Study
The use of different communication techonologies has far gone beyond phone calls and messaging, the internet is now the most accepted and trendy medium of communication in the society. It is not just acquiring the knowledge of ICT that is important, organizations need to understand how to use ICT pedagogically. ICT used appropriately can stimulate the development of higher cognitive skills, deepen learning and contribute to the acquisition of skills needed for learning all life- long and for working in today’s job market (Tchombe et al., 2008).
This project will be beneficial to the management of the NYSC orientation camps for effective monitoring and management of the system .it will also be a great relieve to the prospective corps members as it serve as a middle man, linking the corps member and the staff.To the management, it helps reduce redundancy encountered in handling large files, provide an enabling environment to disseminating news to all corps members and track other management issues whenever they arise.
1.5 Scope Of The Study
In order to meet up the appropriate demands and time scheduled, this research will be scopedto design and implementation of an NYSC Orientation Camp Information System using the Anambra state NYSC Permanent Orientation Camp, Umunya as a case study. The scope of this work will cover basically the camp registration and information dissemination. Some of the areas that will be handled by this package include:
- Creation of registration Module (corps members who are already posted to Anambra state Camp).
- Logging in and authenticating the users who are registered
- Provision of status box for updating information and uploading of files
- Building of instant messaging platform will alert to users whenever any information is passed online.
1.6 Limitations Of The Study
The limitation of the study focuses on the difficulties encountered during the study, they are:
- Difficulties encountered getting reaching past corps members
- Unwillingness of the NYSC staff to review information, and provide answers to questions.
- Inadequate consistency focusing on the study.
- Time and financial constraints in combining the research with present academic session
1.7 Definition Of Terms
PPA:
This is an acronym for Primary Place of Assignment. Corps members are therefore posted to a place relevant to their discipline (although sometimes national need may override this consideration) where they offer their services
Authentication:
Is any process by which a system verifies the identity of a user he wishes to access its resources.
Crud:
This is an acronym for the basic database query which means Create, Read, Update and Delete.
Database:
This is a data structure that stores organized information, a collection of records or set of persistent data usually associate with a
Redundancy:
This has to do with storing unwanted or useless duplicates data or records
System:
An organized unit which composed of two or more inter related parts that functions together to achieve a particular goal.
Module:
An independent piece of a software which can perform it function independently
Internet:
A global collection of computers connected to each other for the purpose of communication, and share information.
Online:
On the internet.
Pedagogy:
The profession, science, or theory of teaching.
