No money to pay January Allowance, NYSC tells corps members

As members of the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, continue to lament the delay in the payment of their monthly stipend, subjecting them to serious economic hardships,
the federal government has
announced that their allowance for January is not yet available.
This was contained in a statement signed by Bose Aderibigbe, Director
Media and Publicity of the Corps, and made available to newsmen in Abuja.
Aderibigbe attributed the delay to discrepancies in planning figures for 2016 from the NYSC, Ministry of Budget and National Planning, and the Ministry of Finance, respectively.
She however, regretted the delay and urged corps members to remain calm as measures were being taken to ensure their prompt payment.
“Management regrets this delay, and is, therefore, working round the clock to ensure that all corps members receive their January allowance between now and next week.”
Aderibigbe stated.

This is coming as a shock to many, as President Muhammadu Buhari had
earlier promised that his government would take all required actions to
maintain and improve the scheme as a functional vehicle for the promotion of national unity and integration.
He affirmed his confidence and trust in the NYSC, adding that the objective for which the scheme was constituted
in 1973 was still very applicable for national development now.
Despite the growing challenge of
paying the allowances of corps
members, the minister of Youths, Sports and Social Development, Solomon Dalong, has maintained that the Federal Government would not
scrap the NYSC scheme.
Dalong stated this when he paid an official visit to the NYSC Orientation Camp at Iyana-Ipaja, in Lagos State.
“I firmly believe in NYSC and I think it should remain a national programme to promote integration.” The president said.
“I will stand for the sustenance of the scheme and that it should continue to grow. What we need to do now is introduce skills acquisition, empowerment; we need to now repackage the scheme.
“At the level of the Federal
Government, we are thinking of after the mandatory one year service, those who want to learn a trade, skills acquisition and entrepreneurship can be retained and be given more
training. Our graduates are
enlightening minds, whatever you teach them, they will survive with it.
“So a grant will be given to them at the end to start off and train other people,’’ he said.