No Idea When Nigerian Govt Will Begin Payment Of N77,000 Increased Allowance To Corps Members —NYSC

The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has stated that it cannot determine when the recently approved N77,000 allowance for corps members will be implemented.

A press statement issued by the agency’s Acting Director of Information and Public Relations, Caroline Embu, in September, said corps members’ monthly allowance was now pegged at N77,000, up from the previous N33,000.

The statement said the increment would be effective from July 2024, in accordance with Minimum Wage (Amendment) Act 2024.

However, SaharaReporters gathered that President Bola Tinubu’s administration later surprisingly paid corps members their old monthly allowance of N33,000 for September, despite the recent approval to increase it to N77,000.

“They have not paid but the people around me who were paid got 33k (N33,000) instead of the N77,000 promised,” a corps member said.

Speaking on the issue, NYSC Public Relations Officer, Caroline Embu, in a telephone conversation with SaharaReporters on Friday morning, explained that the delay in the implementation of the increased allowance is from the government.

Caroline said: “It is a process. Everything is a process. After making the pronouncement, the government has to work on it to be able to pay. It is not as if it is automatic (immediately implemented) like that.

“If you remember even this minimum wage that we are talking about, has been implemented since when (without implementation)? It is the same thing with NYSC corps members.

“I can’t say (if it is going to be implemented this month (October)). This is because the payment is done by the Federal Government, not NYSC. We don't know when it is going to be implemented, just like everybody is waiting for the minimum wage.”