‘NYSC Set To Spend ₦307.6 Billion On Corps Members’ Allowances’

The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) is projected to spend approximately ₦307.6 billion on the mobilisation and payment of allowances to corps members.

Naija News reports that this estimate is based on the increase in corps members’ monthly stipends from ₦33,000 to ₦77,000, as announced by the NYSC in a statement released in September 2024.

The increment followed the approval of the new minimum wage bill, which was signed into law in May 2024.

Each year, the NYSC mobilises corps members in three batches—A, B, and C—across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. The programme typically enlists between 1,200 and 1,500 corps members per camp during each orientation exercise.

On average, this results in 55,500 corps members per batch, bringing the total annual mobilisation to 333,000.

With each corps member now entitled to ₦77,000, the total payout for one batch amounts to ₦25.64 billion. Over a full year, the expenditure on corps members’ allowances is expected to reach ₦307.6 billion.

In the 2025 budget proposal presented to the National Assembly by President Bola Tinubu in December 2024, the Federal Government allocated ₦430.7 billion to the NYSC, marking the highest budgetary provision for the scheme in five years.

Of this amount, ₦372.9 billion—accounting for 86.5 percent of the total allocation—was designated for the payment of corps members’ allowances.

However, five months after the announcement of the new allowance structure on September 25, 2024, the Federal Government has yet to commence payments at the revised rate.

Following the non-implementation of the increase in February, the acting Director of Press and Public Relations, Caroline Embu, clarified that the NYSC was still awaiting the required cash backing.

“The cash backing is still being awaited,” Embu said in a brief response to The Punch correspondent.

Additionally, in a WhatsApp message seen by The Punch on Wednesday, the newly appointed Director-General of the NYSC, Brig. Gen. Olakunle Nafiu, reportedly assured that the new payment structure would take effect in March.