President Muhammadu Buhari has been asked to pay former members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) their salary arrears.
On Saturday, Nnadi Goodluck, a Nigerian, who served in Oyo State with the 2018 Batch B Stream 1 made the call in an SOS sent to DAILY POST, addressed to the president.
“President Buhari should pay ex-corps members their arrears, they worked for it”, he stated.
He noted that the Federal Government had commenced the payment of the new Minimum Wage to serving corps members and as such, their former colleagues should benefit too.
Goodluck said corps members like federal civil servants were also eligible and qualified to receive the arrears, since they were also serving under the federal government.
“I am not writing for myself, but writing for all the thousands of corps members who passed out from the scheme and are still waiting and hoping on the federal government”, he wrote.
“Most of these ex-corps members waiting for the arrears are still unemployed due to lack of jobs after NYSC, they’re only anticipating the payment of the arrears just to sustain them whilst they continue the job hunting.
“President Buhari signed into law the Minimum Wage Repeal and Re-Enactment Act, 2019 on Thursday, 18th April 2019, thus changing the salary of workers from N18,000 to N30,000 and subsequently changing the NYSC allowance from N19,800 to N33,000.
“The affected ex-corps members are not happy, because during the government of ex-president Goodluck Ebele Jonathan in 2011, the then affected ex-corps members were paid in arrears, what is now holding president Buhari in 2020?
“I read on the news sometime in February where the NYSC Director-General, Brigadier General Shuaibu Ibrahim said that corps members are not eligible for the arrears, because they are not civil servants but on national service, I guess he wasn’t aware that corps members received arrears during the tenure of the ex-president Jonathan.
“Former President Goodluck Jonathan signed the Minimum Wage Repeal and Re-Enactment Act, 2011 on 16th March 2011, thus changing the salary of workers from N7,500 to N18,000 and subsequently changing the NYSC allowance from N9,775 to N19,800.
“After signing the bill in March, his administration started the payment in July 2011 and the 2010 Batch B corps members that passed out on Thursday, 16th June 2011 were all paid in arrears for 4 months, beginning from March, April, May and June 2011. With the payment, they all received a total of N40,100 in arrears.
“The 2018 Batch B Stream 1 and 2 are eligible to be paid in arrears, including the 2018 Batch C Stream 1 and 2, 2019 Batch A, 2019 Batch B Stream 1 and 2, and 2019 Batch C Stream 1 and 2,” he stated.
On October 23, 2019, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved the payment of the new salary structure as contained in the agreement signed between the Ministry of Labour and Employment and the labour unions.
The FEC meeting was on that occasion chaired by Vice-President, Yemi Osinbajo.
Minister of Labour and Employment, Christ Ngige, told the media that FEC approved “that the financial implications worked out by the National Incomes and Wages Commission that the salaries adjustment should take effect as from April 18, 2019 the day the New National Minimum Wage Act came into being.”
