The Federal Government has increased the monthly allowance of members of the National Youths Service Corps (NYSC) to N30,000. This was disclosed by the Minister of Finance, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, on Thursday, in Abuja,  during a media briefing on the activities of her ministry. According to the minister, with the recent minimum wage bill signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari, corps members will no longer earn N18,000 monthly.

She, however, noted that the Federal Government is still working out practicalities before the implementation of the new allowance for corps members. “The financial implications have been worked out by the presidential committee that was set up and they have submitted their report to the President and the President has directed the report to us,” she said.

“We have looked at the report and what we are working on now is how we can finance the new minimum wage.

“The total financial implications will be determined after negotiations. The negotiation will determine what every other staff that is above the minimum wage will get. It could be a flat amount or a progression.

“The other aspect that should be clear is that there is an increase for the NYSC as well because NYSC, by its Act, is designed that they earn the minimum wage.

“So, NYSC allowance also has to increase to N30, 000. So, I cannot give you projections right now because the negotiations are not yet concluded,” she added.