Corps Members Lament NYSC DG’s No Funds For New ‘Allawi’ Remarks

• Seek urgent intervention by President Tinubu
• Insist govt can’t be trusted on arrears payment 

BY OUR CORRESPONDENTS – Departing National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members are lamenting over the recent remarks by the Director General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Brigadier General Yushau Ahmed, about the lack of funds to pay the recent government increase in their monthly allowance

Following the Federal Government approved increment of Corps members’ monthly allowance from N33,000 to N77,000, effective from July 2024, General Ahmed publicly admitted that the directive has not been implemented due to inadequate funds.

However, with Thursday’s passing out ceremony of ‘Batch C1’, most of the Corps members are pained that they were unable to enjoy the newly approved package of N77,000 before officially exiting the Scheme.

Most of them who spoke with Forefront News at the NYSC Orientation Camp in Kubwa, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), during the passing out ceremony, lamented that the NYSC still paid their old monthly allowance of N33,000 for September, two months after the government’s approval

Expressing disappointment at this development, the departing Corps members, and even those serving, said talks of arrears payment may just be a camouflage with high possibilities of another corruption-infested drama loading.

One of the Corps members, who spoke the minds of others but begged not to have her name in print for obvious reasons, said; “They have finished with us. Having not paid us the new allowance before today, there is no indication that the arrears of this new increment would come to us.

“False hope was given to us on this payment and even with so much media hype, we have unfortunately not seen anything. The most worrying aspect is that some of us have passed out today (Thursday, October 15, 2024) and the only thing one hears is ‘do not worry, the arrears will be paid into your respective account’.

“Seriously, with all happenings around, can we still trust the government and those at the helms of affairs to keep their promise to the people”.

For another disturbed ‘Corper’ colleague, keeping hope alive in the present circumstance is not a bad idea. According to him; “We are only appealing that the President intervenes and directs all relevant authorities to ensure we are paid these arrears for the months of July, August, September, and October 2024, being our terminal date in the service year.”

Collaborating the fears of non-payment of any arrears now that they have officially exited the Scheme with the collection of their discharge certificates, a stakeholder recounted her painful experience way back in the late 1990s and early 2000s when the NYSC allowance increased to around ₦4,000

Obviously still feeling the pinch of missing out of that windfall, she said; “I was serving in Ibadan then and when the allowance increment news came, everyone was so jubilant. However, we were not paid before our passing out ceremony due to administrative bottlenecks.

“Despite official assurances that we will be contacted to claim our outstanding arrears, nothing of such ever happened thereafter as everything went into ‘voicemail’.

“For those of us who still kept tap hoping that something good would eventually come out, the disappointment was huge, especially when news filtered out that the discharged Corps members were actually captured on the arrears’ payroll

“So, it is left for you to imagine what would have happened to such provision that did not get to us as the beneficiaries. For now, I have told my wards to free their minds from the so-called promise of arrears payment until they see their alerts if such would ever come.”

But moving to douse the concerns expressed by Corps members and other stakeholders, the NYSC, in the statement issued on Thursday, said though the government is yet to release funds for the promised increment in the personal allowance to Corps members, the “arrears will be paid into Corps members accounts with effect from July 2024.

“2023 Batch C Corps members should be rest assured that all their entitlements will be paid”.

The statement further said; “Also we wish to inform the Corps members and the general public, particularly our stakeholders that payment for their participation as Adhoc staff in the last gubernatorial election in Edo State is solely the responsibility of INEC and not NYSC Management.

“This is to debunk the rumors making the rounds that NYSC has deliberately withheld the said allowance.

“However, the management is making all efforts to ensure that the institution saddled with this responsibility pays the concerned Corps members as soon as possible.

“We enjoin our Corps members and stakeholders to continue exercising patience and understanding with the scheme.”

Forefront News notes that the official announcement of the increment was captured in a letter from the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC) signed by the Chairman, Mr. Ekpo Nta and dated September 25, 2024.