Some serving corpers members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme have basked in the ambience of resentment, demanding the payment of the remaining 50 percent of their allowances for the roles they played during the polls.
Majority of the corps members who conducted the elections in Benue State have yet to be paid 50 percent of their allowance.
It would be recalled that the Director General of the NYSC, Brigadier General Olawumi Johnson expressed concerned on the delay of payment of corps members’ INEC election duty allowance.
He further requested through the scheme’s official twitter account,@ NYSC NG, that all corps members who participated in the elections should exercise patience, as everyone will be paid.
A breakdown of the approved allowance for corps members participating in each of the elections:
1. Honorarium -9,000 per election.
2. Transportation –N3,000 per election
3. Feeding allowance-N1,000 per election
In literal expression, each corps member should be paid a total sum of N26,000 for both elections-N13,000 a piece, but as it is now, most of the corp members in Benue have only been paid N13,000.
The colossal question now is when will the remaining PAY DAY be?
Meanwhile, some ex-corps members, who worked as assistant polling officers in Kwara State have lamented the non-payment of their allowances by the state’s independent National Electoral Commission, urging it to pay without further delay.
Corp members also staged a peaceful protest in calabar demanding the payment of their allowances for the function they carried out during the March 28th Presidential and National Assembly elections in Cross River State.
The Nigeria Government in conjunction with the INEC should review reasons to the delay of payment of the meager allowance, so as to quell the already boiling tempers of the not-pleased corps members.
Meanwhile corps members under the condition of anonymity have continued to express their anger over this delay in payment of their allowances.
A corper from Aba, Abia state stated that the Federal Government has reneged in the agreement to pay as and when due.
“Imagine the risks we went through for nationhood and yet this government officials would not meet their own side of the bargain. We were under fire, from the point of collection of PVCS, accreditation and the actual election, we were at risk, from the electorate and the irate youths but we unwaveringly discharged our responsibilities. We expect our leadership, both in the NYSC and federal government to be more responsible than what has been so far displayed.
They should also be accountable. Was money not budgeted for this? Was it not approved. The Prof. Attahiru Jega led INEC has to let us know who is responsible for the delay.
In the past, like in the 2011 Elections, corpers forfeited their allowance simply because it was not forthcoming. They gave up on waiting endlessly for it, that was not fair, and today the same thing is being replicated.
It is not fair! And we are not forfeiting this time around. We will continue to demand by any legal means we can, the payment of our allowances for the duties we performed during elections. It is not salary, but mere allowances. This is not a good example for the youths; corruption cannot continue to thrive like this. We hope that when the new regime takes over, these issues will be critically addressed. That is our wish that the outgoing leadership should address these issues before the expiration of its tenure. In that way, I think culpability and the burden of liability will be reduced even for the incoming administration”.
On the manner in which they intend to pursue their agitations, the corper stated that renown lawyers and human rights activities are dusting their wigs to help them actualize their aims. We are not paying the lawyers. They are going to help us freely. Several known activists have also indicated interest to pursue the case, but we hope that it would not be a steamy affair that would give Nigeria a bad image in the eyes of the International Community. We are praying that before May 29, 2015, all the issues would have been thrashed out so that one government would have a peaceful exit and the other a peaceful entrance and reign, while the transition itself will be memorable.