The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, has debunked the story doing the rounds that the Federal Government was planning to increase monthly allowance of corps members to N50, 000.
Ngige, who stated this at a press briefing in Obosi, in the Idemili Local Government Area of Anambra State, described the story as unfounded, adding that the Federal Government would not have increased the allowance of corps members without first coming out with a minimum wage for the Nigerian workers.
The minister explained that the corps members’ allowance was coterminous with the prevailing minimum wage. “That is why today, the national minimum wage is N18, 000, and the top up for NYSC members is about N1, 500 making it N19, 500. This is what the Federal Government pays each corps member.
“For now, there is no figure before us as an increm ent and as a matter of fact, the last Federal Executive Council had mandated the Minister of Youths and Sports to liaise with the Director General of the NYSC so that he can be brought on board for us to work as a team, “ Ngige stated.
Dr. Ngige also attributed the delay in the approval of a new minimum wage for Nigerian workers to the inability of the state governors to come up with an agreed figure.
While stating that the committee saddled with the responsibility to work out the modalities for the new wage had been up and about, Ngige said the Nigerian Governors’ Forum had not been able to come up with any figure as a minimum wage they could pay.
Describing the governors as critical partners in wage determination, Ngige said as an insider and a realist, he would not want to give any date or month when the minimum wage would be implemented.