Yunusa Umar
A claim circulating on social media stated that the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, paid corps members N77,000 as monthly stipend for August due to minimum wage increment signed into law by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
An X user, @zaMusbeyNe_ with about 87,000 followers posted the claim on 25, Aug, 2024 with a caption that reads: “NYSC allowee don drop ooooo!!!! N77,000 🫡.May God bless President Bola Ahmed Tinubu”.
The claim had garnered about 544,000 views, 454 reposts and quotes, with over 2,700 likes and 113 bookmarks as of the time this report was published.
Some of the replies to this post were doubtful while others were reminiscing on better days, @EAkhilomen replied saying, “At N19,800, I was able to save N100k at the end of the service year. I would like to know how much you can save at the end of your 1 year service”,
While @_HsVO_ asked, “Are you sure,” another user, @robertciza replied to the post saying, “Ur papa. No be same NYSC i dey do?.”
The increment in corps members allowance has been a buzzing subject since President Tinubu increased the minimum wage in the country to 70,000 naira in July, however, some states are yet to implement the new wage. The claim that corps members were paid 77,000 naira has to be fact-checked, considering that there is a ten percent increase from the President’s assented minimum wage amount.
VERIFICATION
On July 29, 2024, Channels TV reported that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had signed the N70,000 minimum wage into law, ending months of deliberations between government authorities, labour unions, and the private sector in the country.
And there has been anticipation amongst corp members that this wage increase would reflect in their monthly allawee payment.
NV-A spoke to corps members in several states and they debunked the alleged increase.
A corp member,serving in Taraba State said the amount received as allowance for the month of August is N33,000. “I have received my allawee and it was N33,000. It was earlier today that I received it” he said, adding that his colleagues in Taraba also received similar amounts, not N77,000 as claimed.
Similarly, a corps member serving in Kwara State said N33,000 was the monthly stipend he received for August, contrary to the claim going viral on social media.
“I was paid yesterday during the night and it was N33,000 that I received in my designated account issued by the NYSC”, he said.
Further search led us to NYSC’s Facebook page and a recent post on the page where the Director General of NYSC, General YD Ahmed had assured corps members that as soon as civil servants start receiving the new minimum wage that was approved, their monthly allowance would also increase.
NV-A then contacted the acting spokesperson of the NYSC, Mrs Carol Lembu, for verification and she refuted the viral claim.
“No, it is not true”, Lembu said. “NYSC allowance is quite close to minimum wage. So if there is increment that is when it will take effect. It is not in isolation”.
She added that the scheme still maintains N33,000 until the Federal Government increases the salary of civil servants.
CONCLUSION
The claim that corps members received 77,000 naira as stipend for the month of August, is FALSE, findings and confirmation from multiple sources affirms that the old minimum wage fee of N33,000 is still in effect.
