The Director-General of the National Youth Service Corps, Brigadier General Olakunle Nafiu, has assured that corps members who have recently completed their service year will not be left out of the N77,000 monthly allowance recently approved by the Federal Government.
Nafiu gave this assurance on Thursday during the Batch A 2025 Pre-Mobilisation Workshop for heads of corps-producing institutions and key stakeholders in Abuja.
PUNCH Online reports that the Federal Government had, last month, commenced disbursement of the new allowance to serving corps members — nearly eight months after President Bola Tinubu signed the new minimum wage into law.
Addressing journalists at the event, Nafiu said the government remained committed to its financial obligations to corps members.
“The government is quite conscious of its promise and within the budgetary provision, the government is going to handle that,” Nafiu said.
“Once funds are released to us to offset the arrears, we will pay them. Even our corps members who passed out recently will benefit. Once we receive cash backing for the arrears, we are going to credit them; we have their bank details.
Nigerians should not fret about that because the government is both responsible and responsive to their needs”, he added.
Meanwhile, the Director of Corps Mobilisation, Mohammed Abubakar, raised concerns about the integrity of the mobilisation process, citing instances where tertiary institutions had uploaded names of unqualified individuals for service.
“We have made remarkable progress in recent years, greatly reducing challenges, thanks to innovative approaches and better collaboration. However, we still face serious issues, particularly concerning the fraudulent uploading of unqualified graduates, which we must address,” Abubakar said.
“As we prepare for another batch of NYSC mobilisation, we must confront the pressing issues affecting our corps members. This process is vital for our nation’s growth, but it is fraught with challenges, especially the ongoing problem of dishonest enrollments. We must therefore stay alert and be proactive”, he added.
Also speaking at the event, the Minister of Youth Development, Ayodele Olawande, called for reforms in the NYSC scheme, aligning with the Tinubu administration’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
Olawande stated, “I remember when the scheme was created in 1973. It was for a purpose. Everything since then has changed. We must therefore reform the scheme to meet our changing society,” he said.
“As Nigeria improves, we must continue to improve the scheme to meet demands. We must address the gaps in how the scheme will prepare our graduates for the job market. Let us reshape the process to meet the demands of the labour market.
“Reforming the NYSC mobilisation is not the job of the government alone. It is a collaborative effort. We can build an NYSC that is adaptive, inclusive and will serve our future generations.”
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