The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has blamed funding for the delay in paying corps members the new N77,000 minimum wage.
The NYSC attributed its inability to commence payment of the allowance to corps members on lack of “cash backing.”
As reported by The Punch, NYSC spokesperson, Caroline Embu, in response to an inquiry on Monday, March 3, 2025.
“The cash backing is still being awaited,”
Embu stated this after the National Association of Nigerian Students (NAN) criticised the NYSC for failing to implement the revised wage months after the Federal Government’s approval in July 2024.
National Vice President for Inter-Campus Affairs, Sileola Akinbodunse, said corps members were paid N33,000 for their February allowance, contrary to the N70,000 promised by the NYSC Director-General.
Akinbodunse said NYSC has offered no justification for the delay in paying the new minimum wage.
According to Akinbodunse, it is a gross injustice for corps members to be paid old allowance when government workers are already benefitting from the minimum wage increase.
NANS urged the Federal Government to investigate the cause of the delay and probe the NYSC’s handling of the wage adjustment.
“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.”
Naturenex earlier reported that corps members nationwide lament the Federal Government’s continued failure to implement the promised N77,000 allowance for February 2025 despite earlier assurances
Corps members decry the rising cost of living, saying the current N33,000 stipend is inadequate to cover essential expenses like accommodation, feeding, and transportation.
With no clear update from NYSC officials and repeated delays, corps members accuse the government of broken promises and neglect of their welfare.
Nigerians took to social media to react to the upward review of NYSC members’ allowance from N33,000 to N77,000.
President Bola Tinubu-led federal government approved the increment of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members’ monthly allowance in September 2025.
