The National Youth Service Corps has been under investigation by the Federal Government for failing to pay the recently authorised N77,000 monthly allowance for corps members, according to the National Association of Nigerian Students.
NANS was disappointed that the NYSC has yet to implement the payment in July 2024, months after the Federal Government authorised the increase from N33,000 to N77,000.
The Director-General of the NYSC, Brigadier General Yushau Ahmed, stated that the new allowance was not implemented due to the non-release of funds.
NANS in a statement by its National Vice President, Inter-Campus Affairs, Felicia Akinbodunse, on Sunday, justified the call for the probe of the NYSC for failure to commence payment of the new corps monthly allowance by the end of February as promised by the Director-General of the Corps.
The official statement by Yushau that corps members would begin getting the N77,000 in February 2025 made her question why the payment was delayed.
According to her, findings by her office revealed that corps members received only N33,000 for their February allowance last Friday, against N70,000 promised by the NYSC DG.
Akinbodunse noted that the FG and many state governments have since begun to pay their workers the new minimum wage of N70,000, adding that the NYSC has no justification to withhold the payment of the approved allowance to corps members.
She emphasised that corps members continuing to get their previous allowance months after the Federal Government approved and implemented it would be an egregious unfairness on their side.
While calling on the NYSC to give reasons behind the failure to implement the payment of the N77,000 corps monthly allowance, she insisted that the FG should investigate the matter to determine the cause of the delay.
She went on to say that the corps members’ morale may suffer if the new payment was not paid, particularly given the country’s economic situation.
Akinbodunse, however, submitted that “the leadership of the student body would equally interface with the NYSC to find out why corps members are yet to benefit from the new minimum wage of N77,000, even when staff of the NYSC are receiving the increase in pay from the Federal Government.”
