By Funmilayo Akinyemi
The President Bola Tinubu-led Government. Federal Government has reneged on its promise to pay members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), the ₦77,000 monthly stipends approved for them starting from February, 2025.
Instead, the old stipend of ₦33,000 which is less than half of the new allowance supposedly approved was paid to them.
This is in spite of the assurances given to them by the Director-General of NYSC, Brig.-General Yushau Ahmed.
Some Corps members who confirmed the development, said they were surprised to find out that it still remained the ₦33,000, when they received their February allowance on Friday night.
Gen. Ahmed had publicly stated that the allowance increment was a done deal, awaiting only the passage of the 2025 budget, vowing that by February, they would start receiving ₦77,000.
“The Federal Government has already approved the increment of your allowance. It is no longer news; we have the approval in our hands. What we are waiting for is just the passage of the budget,” Ahmed had told Corps members in Katsina State.
However, February has come and gone, and the promise remains unfulfilled.
The Government has not provided any official explanation for the failure to implement the increase, leaving Corps members stranded and frustrated in the face of worsening economic crisis.
With Nigeria’s inflation rate soaring and the cost of living becoming unbearable, the ₦33,000 allowance is no longer enough for Corps members to meet even their basic needs.
Many struggle to buy food items, pay for transportation, and accommodation, as prices of essential commodities skyrocket due to bad economic policies and naira depreciation under Tinubu’s administration.
A corps member serving in Oyo expressed his disappointment, saying, ”How do they expect us to survive on ₦33,000 when everything is expensive? They told us we would get ₦77,000 this month, and now they have failed again. This government keeps making promises but never delivers.”
Another corps member in Kano lamented that the delay in the allowance increment is yet another example of the government’s insensitivity to the struggles of young Nigerians.
“We are serving our country, yet we cannot even afford decent meals. The government knows that ₦33,000 is not enough, but they don’t care. They keep making empty promises while we suffer,” she said.
The failure to implement the promised allowance increase has further eroded trust in the Tinubu administration, which has been widely criticised for its economic policies that have worsened inflation, unemployment, and poverty across the country.
