Minimum wage: NYSC Set To Approve N307.6bn For Corps members’ Allowances

The National Youth Service Corps may spend as much as N307.6bn on the mobilisation and payment of allowances to corps members.

A report by THE PUNCH newspaper said the amount was based on the increase in corps members’ allowances, which rose from N33,000 to N77,000, as announced by the NYSC in a statement released in September 2024.

The increase followed the signing of the new minimum wage bill into law in May 2024.

On average, the NYSC mobilises between 1,200 and 1,500 corps members for the orientation exercise across camps in the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. The mobilisation occurs in three batches annually—A, B, and C.

This results in an average of 55,500 corps members per batch, bringing the total number of corps members mobilised in a year to 333,000.

With each corps member now receiving N77,000, the total payment for one batch amounts to N25.64bn.

Over the course of the year, this brings the total amount allocated for corps members’ allowances to N307.6bn.

In the 2025 budget proposal, presented by President Bola Tinubu to the National Assembly in December 2024, the Federal Government allocated N430.7bn to the NYSC, the highest budgetary allocation in the past five years.

Of this amount, N372.9bn—representing 86.5 per cent of the total allocation—was earmarked for the payment of corps members’ allowances.

However, the Federal Government has yet to implement the payment of the new N77,000 allowance rate, five months after the announcement was made on September 25, 2024.

After the failure to implement the payments in February, the acting Director of Press and Public Relations, Caroline Embu, explained that the NYSC was still awaiting the necessary cash backing.

“The cash backing is still being awaited,” Embu said in a brief response to our correspondent.

In a WhatsApp message seen by our correspondent on Wednesday, the newly appointed Director-General of the Scheme, Brig. Gen. Olakunle Nafiu, reportedly assured that payments would commence in March.

Efforts to reach the NYSC spokesperson for further comments on the issue were unsuccessful, as calls and messages to her went unanswered.