The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has called on the Federal Government to investigate the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) over the failure to pay the newly approved N77,000 monthly allowance to corps members. NANS expressed disappointment that, despite the Federal Government’s approval of the increase from N33,000 to N77,000, effective July 2024, the NYSC has yet to implement the payment.
The NYSC Director-General, Brigadier General Yushau Ahmed, explained that the delay was due to the non-release of funds. However, NANS, in a statement by its National Vice President for Inter-Campus Affairs, Felicia Akinbodunse, justified the call for a probe into the matter. She expressed concern over the failure to commence payment by the end of February 2025, as promised by the Director-General.
Akinbodunse questioned the delay in the payment, especially after the official announcement by Yushau that corps members would begin receiving the N77,000 in February 2025. Her office’s findings revealed that corps members only received N33,000 for their February allowance last Friday, far below the N70,000 that had been promised by the NYSC DG.
She pointed out that while the Federal Government and many state governments have already started paying their workers the new minimum wage of N70,000, the NYSC has not provided any justification for withholding the approved allowance. Akinbodunse stressed that continuing to pay corps members the old allowance months after the Federal Government’s approval would be a gross injustice.
She called on the NYSC to clarify the reasons behind the delay in implementing the N77,000 allowance, and urged the Federal Government to investigate the situation to determine the cause of the holdup. Akinbodunse also warned that the failure to pay the new allowance could negatively impact the morale of corps members, especially amid the country’s economic challenges.
In conclusion, she stated that NANS leadership would engage directly with the NYSC to seek answers as to why corps members have not yet benefited from the approved new minimum wage, despite the fact that NYSC staff have already received the pay increase from the Federal Government.
