After months of waiting, National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members have finally started receiving their increased stipends. The new monthly allowance of N77,000 was paid out in March, six months after the NYSC first announced the raise.
A Long-Awaited Increment
Back in September 2024, the NYSC announced that corps members’ stipends would rise from N33,000 to N77,000 following an increase in Nigeria’s minimum wage. At the time, the management stated that the new payment would take effect from July 2024.
Last week, NYSC Director-General, Brigadier General Olakunle Nafiu, confirmed that the increased payments would begin in March. By Wednesday, corps members who received their March stipends confirmed they got N77,000.
Uncertainty Over Backlog Payments
While corps members are relieved to receive the new allowance, there is still no official word on whether they will be paid the backlog from July 2024, when the raise was initially supposed to take effect.
NYSC Allowances Over the Years
The NYSC program is a mandatory one-year service for Nigerians under 30 who have completed a bachelor’s degree or its equivalent. Stipends for corps members have historically been tied to the country’s minimum wage.
Before this increase, corps members received N33,000 since 2020. That amount was an upgrade from N19,800, which was paid until the government raised the minimum wage to N30,000 in 2019. The latest increment was triggered when President Bola Tinubu signed a new minimum wage bill of N70,000 into law in July 2024.
