October 23, 2014.
NewsRescue
By: Ibrahim Olalekan
Director General of the National Youth Service Corps, (NYSC), Johnson Olawunmi, has announced that corps members will henceforth receive N500 as daily feeding allowance.
Olawunmi, said this during the House of Representatives Committee hearing on the N4,000 online registration fee mandated for corps members which has received public outcry from civil society groups and the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC).
The Director General disclosed that the federal government approved N500 as feeding allowance for each corps member per day. He also revealed that over N800 million was required to setup the computer registration system the NYSC is presently using for its online registration.
On why the N4,000 fee was charged, Olawunmi explained that the fees would service a private sector driven build, operate and transfer agreement. He also mentioned that registration equipment would be installed at NYSC offices nationwide.
Olawunmi said the Bureau of Public Procurement, approved the process and issued it a certificate of no objection.
While noting that the N4, 000 for the online registration is voluntary, he said rather than request for money to install the infrastructure, he would prefer to canvass for increment of the current N19, 800 allowances being paid to prospective Corp members.