NYSC Budget: N307.6 Billion Set Aside for Corps Members’ Allowances

An estimated ₦307.6 billion would be spent by the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) on recruiting and compensating corps members.
According to reports, this prediction is predicated on the NYSC’s announcement in September 2024 that corps members’ monthly stipends will grow from ₦33,000 to ₦77,000.

The increase came after the new minimum wage laws was approved and enacted in May 2024.

Three batches of corps members—A, B, and C—are mobilized by the NYSC annually throughout the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. During each orientation exercise, the program usually recruits 1,200 to 1,500 corps members each camp.

This leads to an average of 55,500 corps members per batch, which raises the annual mobilization to 333,000.

Since each corps member is now eligible for ₦77,000, a batch’s total compensation comes to ₦25.64 billion. It is anticipated that ₦307.6 billion will be spent on corps members’ allowances over the course of a year.

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The Federal Government gave the NYSC ₦430.7 billion in the 2025 budget proposal that President Bola Tinubu gave to the National Assembly in December 2024. This was the largest budgetary allocation for the program in five years.

Of this sum, ₦372.9 billion, or 86.5 percent, was set aside for the payment of allowances to corps members.

Nevertheless, the Federal Government has not yet started making payments at the updated rate, five months after the new allowance structure was announced on September 25, 2024.

Caroline Embu, the acting Director of Press and Public Relations, explained that the NYSC was still seeking the necessary financial support after the raise was not implemented in February.

“The financial support is still pending,” Embu said succinctly to a reporter for The Punch.

Additionally, Brig. Gen. Olakunle Nafiu, the recently appointed Director-General of the NYSC, reportedly promised that the new payment structure will go into force in March in a WhatsApp message obtained by The Punch on Wednesday.