National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) on Monday, called for the probe of the leadership of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) over the non-payment of the approved N77,000 monthly allowance for serving corps members.
The student body expressed dismay that NYSC is yet to implement the payment of the new allowance to the corps members months after approval by the Federal Government.
National Vice President, Inter-Campus Affairs, Akinbodunse Sileola Felicia, who made the call on Monday in Abuja, recalled that the Federal Government had approved an increase in the corps members’ monthly allowance from N33,000 to N77,000, effective July 2024.
The Director-General of the NYSC, Brig. Gen. Yushau Ahmed, however, said that the new allowance was not implemented due to the non-release of funds.
But NANS in a statement by its National Vice President, Inter-Campus Affairs, Akinbodunse Sileola Felicia, 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 Brig. Ahmed Yushua that corps members would start receiving the N77,000 in February 2025.
According to the statement, findings by her office revealed that corps members received only N33,000 for their February allowance last Friday, against N70,000 promised by the NYSC DG.
Akinbodunse noted that the Federal Government and many state governments have since begun to pay their workers the new minimum wage of N70,000, adding that the NYSC has no justification to withhold the payment of the newly 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 N77,000 corps monthly allowance, she insisted that the Federal Government should investigate the matter to determine the cause of otherwise 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.
The NANS National Vice President, however, said “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”.
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