Following the upward review of the minimum wage in 2024, the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has repeatedly promised corps members an improved N77,000 monthly allowance, in line with the newly signed minimum wage act.

According to a Federal Government memo, this increased payment was set to take effect from July 2024.

Brigadier General Yushau Ahmed, the NYSC Director General, reiterated these claims on numerous occasions. More recently, on January 31, he stated that the N77,000 payment would begin in February.

READ ALSO: With Delayed Implementation of New Minimum Wage, Public Servants Now Go to Work Twice a Week

Despite these assurances, social media platforms have seen claims that some corps members already received the N77,000 allowance.

For example, posts on X show a corps member celebrating the receipt of N77,000. One of the videos has accumulated over 350,000 views and nearly 4,000 likes at the time of this report.

A similar post by Woye, a pro-Federal Government account, on X has received more than 1,800 likes and over 280,000 views.

More claims can be found here and here.

CLAIM

Corps members have started receiving the N77,000 monthly allowance from the Federal Government.

VERIFICATION

To verify these claims, FIJ first obtained credit alert evidence from corps members who were paid on Monday. As of Saturday, the credited amount was N33,000 to these corps members.

Since there were speculations that the N77,000 was paid to corps members in orientation camps across Nigeria.

FIJ contacted two corps members — one from the NYSC Permanent Orientation Camp in Ikare-Akoko, Ondo State, and another from the camp in Iyana Ipaja, Lagos. Both confirmed they had not been paid for January yet.

Moreover, the NYSC Director General’s comments explicitly referenced the 2025 budget, noting that the new allowance would only be implemented once the budget was passed. He stated:

“The Federal Government has already approved the increment of your allowance. It is no longer news; we have the approval in our hands. What we are waiting for is just the passage of the budget. This month (January) has already ended, but once the budget is passed, by next month (February), you will start receiving N77,000 instead of the usual N33,000.”

READ ALSO: FG Promises N75,000 for 15m in Poverty Yet Withholds N77,000 NYSC Allowance From 400,000

At the time of drafting this report, the federal government had not signed and approved the 2025 budget.

VERDICT

The claim that corps members have started receiving the N77,000 monthly allowance is false.