NYSC not holding January 2022 allowance of corps members

Claim: A post, widely circulated on WhatsApp, suggests that the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has put payment of the January 2022 allowance for corps members on hold until further notice. 

The headline is false as there was no report regarding payment delay while NYSC also debunked the claim as rumour. 

Full Text

Many people on WhatsApp on 27 January, 2022 circulated a screenshot of a report by Vanguard claiming that NYSC has put the payment of monthly allowance on hold until further notice. 

The claim which was mostly posted on WhatsApp status reads: ‘NYSC monthly allowance has been put on hold for the month of january 2022 till further notice.’ 

Serving corps members are expected to be paid a N33,000 allowance monthly towards the end of every month. However, this post has led to some apprehension as they are not sure their payment would come in for the month.

Omobolanle Kamarudeen, a corps member in Oyo State, said she thought the post was true because she was yet to receive the January allowance. 

“This is January 27, and they have not paid us. I am beginning to fear that this post may be true”, she said 

Another corps member, Anjolaoluwa Omotosho, serving in Ogun State, told Dubawa she shared the post on her status. 

She explained, “I saw it on the status of my friend and I thought it was true since we are yet to receive our January allowance.”

The NYSC is a one year compulsory service Nigerian graduates are expected to undergo after completion of their tertiary studies. It was set up by the military government in 1973 to foster unity and national development.

Verification

Dubawa checked the Vanguard website to see if there is any report about NYSC about putting the January 2022 allowance payment on hold till further notice. It was discovered that there was no such report on the website.

Dubawa also contacted the online editor of Vanguard, Victor Ogunyinka, who insisted the newspaper did not publish any report regarding delay in NYSC allowance. 

Ogunyinka said he searched through the Vanguard database after our enquiry and could not find any report about that delay in the payment of NYSC allowance as suggested in the screenshot.

“I can tell you for sure that we don’t have that story on our website,” he said. The last story we did that has to do with NYSC was on January 23 and it was about the Trust Fund bill. 

“I have searched our main website and the community Vanguard but cannot find anything like that; it is not from us,” he added.

NYSC spokesperson, Emeka Mgbemena, told Dubawa that the report is not true. “It’s not true. Disregard that please. It’s the handiwork of mischief makers.” 

Conclusion

The post claiming that NYSC has put the January 2022 allowance for Corps members on hold is false. While the NYSC denied the said directive, Vanguard newspaper denied publishing such a report.