VAM News Update
Some members of serving under the compulsory one-year National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) have lamented their inability to save any money from their monthly allowance due to hardship.
According to some of them, their monthly allowance of N33,000 can no longer sustain them, not to talk about saving from it, Naija News learned.
Some corp members who spoke with The Punch lamented the hardship they are facing with the surge in prices of items, especially food and transportation.
They pleaded with the federal government to consider them eligible to receive the fuel subsidy palliative and also make other provisions for them.
One of the corp members serving in Delta State, who spoke with the newspaper, identified as Saka, narrated how it is burdensome that he can’t save from his allowance due to the current economic hardship.
He said, “The monthly allowance sustains nothing for me as a corper serving in a distant location. The expenses we face every day are higher than our monthly allowance, which doesn’t meet our daily needs unless you have other alternatives. However, corps members cannot live basically on a monthly Income.
“One of the biggest financial challenges I face here is the inability to get the needed foodstuff from the market because of the prices of goods, and also being unable to save from the monthly allowance.
“I appeal to the Federal Government to include corpers in the ongoing subsidy removal palliative.”
Similarly, another corps member serving in Kwara State also lamented the high cost of food and transport and how corpers are been ripped off by commercial bike riders.
The corper, who pleaded anonymity, said, “The main challenge is the inflated price of purchasing foodstuffs, and even transportation, as vendors and bike riders take advantage of us when they see us wearing the Corper’s uniform to double the price for us. Corps members should be among the first set to qualify for the palliative.”