THE National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has clarified that it had yet to receive approval from the Federal Government to begin paying the N70,000 minimum wage to corps members.
The NYSC also refuted claims circulating on social media that corps members’ bank accounts were being upgraded in preparation for the payment of the new minimum wage.
The NYSC’s Director of Information and Public Relations, Eddy Megwa, in a statement on Saturday, August 10, said the claims were misleading and false.
The NYSC, therefore, advised corps members to desist from allowing mischief makers to continue to play on their intelligence.
The statement read in part, “The attention of National Youth Service Corps management has been drawn to misleading information circulating in the media regarding payment of N70,000 minimum wage to corps members and the directive to upgrade their accounts. This is an absolute falsehood which is far from the truth.
“Corps members, parents and members of the public should note that no directive has been received from the relevant sector of government responsible for wages matters.
“It is, therefore, impossible for the NYSC to issue any information on such. Corps members already know the approved channel and mode of communication in the scheme and should therefore ignore the directive accordingly.”
The NYSC also warned bloggers and social media influencers to cease making unauthorized statements about its management, urging them to refrain from issuing unverified information.
President Bola Tinubu signed the National Minimum Wage Act 2019 Amendment Bill into law, which will ensure that workers in Nigeria earn N70,000 as the minimum wage.
The president assented to the bill, on Monday, July 29, at the State House in Abuja barely a week after the National Assembly passed the bill.
Recall that the Nigerian Senate on Tuesday, July 23, passed the minimum wage amendment bill, after the bill speedily scaled through first, second and third readings.
The Senate unanimously voted for the consideration and approval of the bill minutes after it was transmitted to it by President Bola Tinubu.
The bill sought to increase the national minimum wage and reduced the period for periodic review from five years to three years.
The upward review by the federal government came after a series of negotiations between the government’s representatives and organised labour.
The ICIR reports that corps members’ allowance is usually determined by the country’s minimum wage.
For instance, the corps members had their allowances increased from N19,800 to N33,000 in 2020, months after a new minimum wage of N30,000 took effect.
However, it remains unclear when the recent upward review of minimum wage would also be applicable to the NYSC Corp members.
Nurudeen Akewushola is an investigative reporter and fact-checker with The ICIR. He believes courageous in-depth investigative reporting is the key to social justice, accountability and good governance in society. You can reach him via [email protected] and @NurudeenAkewus1 on Twitter.