The mobilization and allowance payments to corps members are expected to cost the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) about ₦307.6 billion.
According to reports, the NYSC’s September 2024 statement stated that the rise in the monthly stipends for corps members from ₦33,000 to ₦77,000 is the basis for this estimate.
Following the new minimum wage bill’s adoption and enactment in May 2024, the increase was implemented.
In the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, the NYSC mobilizes corps members annually in three batches, A, B, and C. According to the program, each orientation exercise recruits 1,200 to 1,500 corps members per camp.
This leads to 55,500 corps members on average per batch, for a total of 333,000 mobilizations per year.
Today, each corps member is entitled to ₦77,000, therefore a batch’s total compensation is ₦25.64 billion. The estimated cost of the allowances for corps members will be ₦307.6 billion over the course of a year.
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In December 2024, President Bola Tinubu presented the National Assembly with the 2025 budget plan, which included the largest budgetary allocation for the NYSC in five years: ₦430.7 billion.
Eighty-six percent of this sum, or ₦372.9 billion, was set aside for the payment of allowances to corps members.
The Federal Government is yet to start paying at the updated rate, though, five months after the new allowance structure was announced on September 25, 2024.
After the raise was not implemented in February, Caroline Embu, the acting Director of Press and Public Relations, explained that the NYSC was still waiting for the necessary financial support.
In answer to a brief question from The Punch writer, Embu stated, “The financial support is still being awaited.”
Also, Brig. Gen. Olakunle Nafiu, the recently appointed NYSC Director-General, allegedly promised that the new payment system will be implemented in March in a WhatsApp chat obtained by The Punch on Wednesday.
