Recently, the news filtered out that the Nigerian Federal Government has approved an increment in the allowance of Nigerian graduates serving the fatherland in various parts of the country. The corps members remained sceptical about the increment until when they saw bank alerts confirming the news that was first broken to them by the Director General of the scheme, Brigadier General Shuaibu Ibrahim while he was addressing some corps members in January. He was quoted by many of the national newspapers saying.
Trust the millennial youths, they were full of praise and joy on social media when they confirmed the first receipt of what was largely considered their share of their own minimum wage. They exchanged banters, promised heavens and earth and built huge castle as they received about 60% increase in their monthly stipend.
What are the issues to be addressed as the university graduates who are serving the fatherland receive the largesse. What do they need to concentrate on? How do they ensure that they could at least make an attempt at their future dreams with this new financial leeway offered by the recent increment?
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#First but Limited Income. Many serving youth corps members do not realise or realises too late that the stipend NYSC pays them is their first source of earning after spending years learning. However, there is a caveat here- it is an income limited to just the first 365 days of being a graduate. So those who have the inner insight should clearly see the opportunity the rise in the stipend presents to them. Within months, the sweet song might be over.
#Understanding the concept of Asset and Liability. These two are accounting concepts that describes what any rational being uses their money to acquire. In specific terms, an asset is any resource owned by the business, anything tangible or intangible that can be owned or controlled to produce value and that is held by a company to produce positive economic value is an asset. On the other hand, a liability is an obligation to, or something that you owe somebody else. In the context in which it is used here, an asset will refer to anything acquired that may give present and future rewards while a liability would refer to anything that would involve paying back and which may give present satisfaction but future agony. As the money increase is felt by youth corps members all over Nigeria, they should know what to acquire and what to ignore. They should be thinking of the nearest future when they would be scouting for jobs.
#Financial Literacy. Described as the ability to manage resources at one’s disposal, it is a major set of skills that the corps members require at the moment. It is the possession of the set of skills and knowledge that allows an individual to make informed and effective decisions with all of their financial resources. It is therefore incumbent on the corps members to understand what the new increment offers them. They are already receiving the new minimum wage which equals to a little over One Thousand Dollars. They must be able to differentiate between wants and needs. They must be able to balance the equation and juggle the numbers on food, data and shelter without neglecting saving.
As the corps members get along with their newly increased stipend, it is hoped that the young men and women would learn to spend wisely, save assiduously for there is life after the service year. Only God knows how long the wait after the service year would be.