When the federal government announced a N77,000 monthly allowance to replace the N33,000 each member of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) received, it stirred some excitement among corps members.

Six months have gone by since the announcement. Each month, social media witnesses a recurring theme of lamentation as the anticipation and dashing of hopes somewhat mirror a promising series with an underwhelming finale.

On Monday, a report captured the wailings of corps members whose sustained N33,000 allowances placed them at the bottom of Nigeria’s income ladder.

“We have lots of expenses and the economy is not funny,” Olugbenga Adeyemi, a corps member serving in Abuja, told Daily Trust.

“So we are seriously dreaming of the N77, 000. Let them pay us and let’s start enjoying it before we leave service.”

On the same day, the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) issued a statement calling the FG to intervene and have the NYSC pay corps members in line with the Minimum Wage Act (2024).

Adeyemi — and over 400,000 others like him — earns N37,000 less than the N70,000 sum legally binding as the minimum wage a public or private entity that employs at least 25 full-time workers must pay.

Why? The NYSC says it has no money.

READ ALSO: Corps Members Take Loans to Survive NYSC Months

WE HAVE NOT RECEIVED FUNDS FROM FG — NYSC

News clipping from January 31, 2025

Brigadier General Yushau Ahmed, the former NYSC Director General, announced on January 30 to the 2024 Batch ‘C’ Stream II corps members in Katsina State that the corps would begin paying the N77,000 sum in February.

He said the NYSC had not received a disbursement from the FG yet, and it was part of the 2025 budget. However, his words did not come to pass as the February payments still mirrored the January payments and the months before them.

POLICY ISSUE, NOT LAW — LAWYERS EXPLAIN

On Wednesday, FIJ called Monday Ubani (SAN) and Festus Ogun, lawyers whose careers have revolved around human rights.

Ubani explained that the reason the government was yet to pay corps members the sum they promised to pay from July 2024, may be tied to “administrative bottlenecks”.

He said national service was different from civil service, and the provisions of the Minimum Wage Act do not apply to corps members, so the government was not legally bound to pay corps members in line with the wage structure.

“Minimum wage should not apply to them since it is national service,” Ubani told FIJ.

“The NYSC has already announced they will pay N77,000, so they are in the best position to explain why they have not fulfilled this, but it is independent of the minimum wage, and there is no legal implication for not paying corps members minimum wage.”

Ubani added that despite the delay in implementing the new policy, he believes the NYSC should have records of corps members who collected N33,000 from July, and they should pay the backlog of owed allowances when disbursements arrive.

Ogun echoed this position. He said corps members cannot be considered as being in the employ of the government, therefore, they are not provided for in the minimum wage consideration.

“When it is a government or private employment, the employer cannot afford to pay less than the minimum wage, but they [corps members] enjoy allowances. The government is not, by law, obligated to pay them in line with the Minimum Wage Act.”

FIJ also found that according to the Integrated Payroll and Personal Information System (IPPIS), corps members received non-regular allowances.

Excerpt from IPPIS portal

The portal says, “The salaries or allowances of such officers are paid through the Non-Regular Allowance which is approved by the budget office of the federation. They are not pensionable staff and are not qualified to be enrolled into IPPIS.”

On Wednesday, FIJ called Carol Embu, the NYSC spokesperson, but she did not take our calls. At press time, she had not responded to FIJ’s text message.
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