The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has called on the Federal Government to investigate the National Youth Service Corps over the non-payment of the newly approved ₦77,000 monthly allowance for corps members.
NANS expressed disappointment that months after the Federal Government approved the increase from ₦33,000 to ₦77,000—effective July 2024—the NYSC has yet to implement the payment.
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.
She wondered what delayed the payment after the official announcement by Yushua that corps members would start receiving the ₦77,000 in February 2025. According to her, findings by her office revealed that corps members received only ₦33,000 for their February allowance last Friday, against ₦70,000 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 ₦70,000, adding that the NYSC has no justification to withhold the payment of the approved allowance to corps members.
She pointed out that it would amount to gross injustice on the part of corps members to still be receiving old allowance months after approval and implementation by the Federal Government.
While calling on the NYSC to give reasons behind the failure to implement the payment of the ₦77,000 corps monthly allowance, she insisted that the FG should investigate the matter to determine the cause of the delay. She added that the failure to pay the new allowance to corps members could dampen their morale, especially in the face of the economic situation in the country.
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.”
(The PUNCH)
