The Director-General, National Youth Service Corps, Brig. Gen. Shuaibu Ibrahim has said the scheme is waiting for directives from the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed on when to commence the payment of the new minimum wage of N30, 000 to corps members.
The DG said that serving corps members would be contacted about the payment once the NYSC gets details on commencement of payment from the finance minister.
The NYSC chief stated this during the opening ceremony of a meeting between top management of the scheme and representatives of state governments on Tuesday in Abuja with the theme: “Optimising the potentials of corps members for national unity and development: The role of state governments as stakeholders.”
The DG also said that corps members would be communicated about the payment of arrears of as a result of the new minimum wage which was signed into law in April by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The NYSC DG said: “The minister (of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare) has announced it and further details will be given to us by the Minister of Finance (Zainab Ahmed); this we are waiting for. I want to assure that just as the minister said, the corps members also benefitted from the minimum wage. The moment we get the details, they will be contacted.
“We are going to commence the payment as directed by the Federal Government. I have spoken to my corps members when I visited Jigawa State about four days ago. I told them that they also have benefitted from the minimum wage. And they were so excited and were praying for the Federal Government, saying it will engender them to perform more duties for the country.
Once the government commences with the civil servants, the corps members will enjoy the same. Our minister has directed that further details will be communicated to us by the minister of finance.”
Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare, in his remarks, said that the scheme has made immense contributions to the socio-economic, political and cultural development of the country 46 years after it was established.
To sustain this achieve, the minister urged all levels of governments to fulfil their obligations towards ensuring smooth operation of the scheme.
The minister called for the creation of a conducive working environment for the potentials of Corps members to be fully harnessed for national development.
Dare said that he was concerned that the successes recorded by corps members in the past were being impaired today by the inability of critical stakeholders, especially states and local governments to fully discharge their statutory responsibilities to the scheme. Reversing this trend will surely increase the tempo of contributions of corps participants to the improvement of the living standard of our people, especially in rural communities,” the minister added.