The Nigerian government has commenced the disbursement of ₦77,000 as the new monthly allowance for National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members.
The allowance increment, initially announced by President Bola Tinubu in September 2024, was met with excitement among corps members across the country who received credit alerts, marking the resolution of the long-standing delay.
It would be recalled that the Minister of Youth Development, Ayodele Olawande, during a recent interview on Channels TV, assured Nigerians that the backlog of payments would be cleared by the end of March.
For months, the disbursement of the new allowance had been stalled, with the government citing budgetary constraints and bureaucratic delays.
In his Monday interview, Olawande attempted to clarify the reasons behind the delay, stating, “I have explained this several times. Some people say I always mention it’s a process, and it is seriously a process. It was not in the budget when the president announced it. Some agencies and parastatals need to have their salaries included in the budget before anything can be done or paid out.”
The Minister emphasized that while President Bola Tinubu had approved the allowance months ago, the disbursement was contingent on the inclusion of budgetary allocations, which had not been in place at the time of the announcement.
“Anybody can approve anything, but you must have a budgetary allocation for it. Now, they are done with the process. It has been approved and signed. Now, they can start taking it,” Olawande added.
