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 N77,000 monthly allowance for corps members.
NANS expressed disappointment that months after the Federal Government approved the raise from N33,000 to N77,000 (from July 2024), the NYSC has neglected to implement the payment.
Brigadier General Yushau Ahmed, the NYSC’s Director-General, indicated that the increased allowance was not implemented owing to a lack of funding.
NANS, in a statement issued on Sunday by its National Vice President, Inter-Campus Affairs, Felicia Akinbodunse, justified the need for an investigation into the NYSC for failing to pay the new corps monthly allowance by the end of February, as promised by the Corps’ Director-General.
She was curious as to what had caused the delay in payment following Yushua’s official declaration that corps members would begin getting the N77,000 in February 2025.
According to her, her office’s findings indicated that corps members received only N33,000 for their February allowance last Friday, instead of the N70,000 promised by the NYSC Director General.
Akinbodunse stated that the FG and many state governments have recently begun to pay their employees the new minimum wage of N70,000, and that the NYSC has no reason to postpone payment of the approved stipend to corps members.
She stated that it would be blatant injustice for corps members to continue collecting old allowance months after the federal government approved and implemented it.
While urging the NYSC to provide reasons for the failure to implement the payment of the N77,000 corps monthly allowance, she asked that the FG probe the matter to identify the cause of the delay.
She said that failing to pay corps members the additional allowance could lower their morale, especially given the country’s economic circumstances.
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.
