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The Federal Government has increased the monthly allowance for members of the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC.
In a statement signed by Caroline Embu, its Acting Director of Information and Public Relations, which was posted on its X page the NYSC announced that with effect from July 2024, the corps members’ allowances have gone up to N77,000, from N33,000.
The increment is coming five years after the monthly allowance was increased from N19,800 to N33,000.
The new raise was contained in a statement, which quoted a letter from the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission, dated 25 September and signed by the Chairman, Ekpo Nta, noting that the increment aligns with the National Minimum Wage (Amendment) Act 2024.
It also noted the advocacy visit by NYSC Director General Yusha’u Ahmed to the National Salaries, Incomes, and Wages Commission contributed to the development.
The newly approved NYSC allowances means that corps members will be getting an additional N44,000 per month.
Considering rising cost of living and inflation, the increment will expectedly bring much-needed financial respite to the corps members.
The increment in corps members’ allowances is a fallout of the increase of the national minimum wage from N33000 to N70000 after a hard-fought battle by the Organised labour led by the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and the Trade Union Congress, TUC.
The trade unions had embarked on an indefinite strike to force the government to agree on a new minimum wage for workers, leading to negotiations that pegged the new minimum wage at N70000.
Subsequently, the National Assembly Assembly passed a bill to give legal teeth to the agreement.
Thereafter, President Bola Tinubu assented to the amended Minimum Wage Act, 2019 and officially increased the National Minimum Wage from ₦30,000 to ₦70,000.
The NYSC was created in 1973 to foster national unity.
It requires graduates of Nigerian universities to undergo a one-year compulsory service to the country in different parts of Nigeria, thereby bringing together graduates from various ethnic, cultural, and religious backgrounds and promoting integration among them, and their host communities.
