POLITICS
Legislative Aides Give NASS Two Weeks Ultimatum over Unpaid Allowances
By Jude Opara, Abuja
The National Assembly Legislative Aides Forum (NASSLAF) yesterday accused the management of the National Assembly of withholding allowances and other entitlements due to them since they were engaged in 2019. They are said they will embark on a peaceful protest beginning from March 8, if all the outstanding entitlements were not paid.
NASSLAF Chairman, Alhaji Salisu Zuru who made the accusation while briefing newsmen at the National Assembly complex said there has been a systemic and monumental corruption, and embezzlement of appropriated funds meant for payment of salaries and allowances of Legislative Aides by the Management of the National Assembly.
Zuru explained that the National Assembly Legislative Aides are Parliamentary staff employed by the National Assembly Service Commission on a tenure basis as political appointees to provide technical legislative, and administrative support to elected members of the nation’s apex legislature.
He added that over the years, the functions of the legislative Aides have been expanded to include conducting research, Bills and Motions drafting, writing briefs and speeches for the legislators, handling of protocols, coordination of constituency offices and projects, press relations among others.
“Since the advent of the 9th National Assembly Commission in 2019 under the current leadership, legislative aides have been subjected to servitude through denials of legitimate entitlements and allowances provided for under the aforementioned service documents.
“In the 2019 Appropriation Act, the sum of N128Bn was appropriated for salaries and overhead for legislators, National Assembly bureaucracy and legislative aides. This means that salaries and allowances of legislative aides and their principals (legislators) takes effect from the day of inauguration of the 9th Assembly officially recognized as their date of assumption of duty, 11 June, 2019.
“Legislative aides usually assume duty same day with their principals, but due to bottlenecks from the then National Assembly Service Commission, aides received appointment letters between 11 June – 31st December 2019, endorsed by their Principals with effective date from 11 June, 2019. When it was time for payment of the arrears, management chose to pay some aides and refused to pay others.
“The 9th NASSLAF EXCO have been battling management on these issues since inauguration in October 2020 to no avail. Management at a time said there was no money. All these while, our colleagues have concluded that the leadership of NASSLAF have been compromised. This led to the emergence of what is today known as the “Salary Affected Legislative Aides”, a pressure group, ostensibly, to support the effort of EXCO”.
The aggrieved workers added that the new minimum wage that was as approved by Federal Government in 2018, and was supposed to take effect from January 2020, has not been fully implemented.
“In January 2022, four months out of the 24 months minimum wage arrears was paid to aides, while the consequential increase has not reflected in our salaries. Before now, duty tour allowance is paid to legislative aides quarterly. But since the advent of the 9th Assembly, we have not been paid this allowance”.
Zuru equally accused the National Assembly Service Commission of complicity in the matter by making itself inaccessible.
Meanwhile, the NASS management has denied embezzling or diverting entitlements due for the legislative aides.
Special Adviser on Media & Labour to the Clerk to the National Assembly, Adesoro Tolu Austen in a statement said there is no iota of truth in the allegation.
He wrote; “Clerk to the National Assembly, Ojo Olatunde Amos, has described as baseless speculative and unfounded allegations by the National Assembly Legislative Aides Forum (NASSLAFF) that the National Assembly Management allegedly diverted and embezzled funds appropriated for Legislative Aides”.
He also accused the protesters as making unfounded claims even when they have not explored all internal mechanisms available to them.
The National Assembly stated that funds approved in December 2021 through Virement was N25billion meant for payment of minimum wage arrears and outstanding liabilities owed local contractor. He added that out of the approved amount, N5B was released for payment of minimum wage arrears wherein National Assembly Staff and National Assembly Service Commission Staff was allocated N2.3B while Legislative Aides got N2.7B.
The Abia Chapter of the INEC Staff Welfare Association (ISWA) has warned its members to uphold the integrity of the commission and guard against the culture of manipulating election results.
The Abia Chairman of the association, Mr Collins Eze, gave the advice at the group’s general meeting and end-of-year party in Umuahia.
Speaking in an interview with newsmen on the sideline of the ceremony, Eze said that the staff members were adequately aware of their enormous responsibility and should ensure free, fair and credible elections.
He said: “We have also told our colleagues that anywhere they find themselves they should make sure that they do the needful by ensuring transparency in the conduct of elections.
“We have always told them not to allow anybody to induce them with money to manipulate election results.
“I’m happy that they have been building the capacity of our colleagues on election processes.
“So, in the coming years, we won’t have any problem in ensuring free, fair and peaceful elections.”
He said that the end-of-year party was special as it afforded them the opportunity “to wine and dine together as well as thank God for sustaining them in 2024”.
Eze said that his leadership had introduced various means of assisting members in dire financial needs by providing platforms to solicit suppory for them.
He expressed gratitude to members for their support and cooperation, describing them as the “secret behind the success of this administration”.
He said that 34 of at least 350 staff members of the commission in the state retired from service in 2024.
According to him, the development has placed a huge financial burden on the association, in terms of their welfare and entitlement as members.
Report says that each member received a carton of tomato paste as Christmas gift from the association. (NAN)
A chieftain of All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Osita Okechukwu, has told the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to be thankful to God that its 16-year administration was not probed by the successive APC-led governments.Okechukwu stated this on Tuesday in Abuja, while reacting to a statement by PDP congratulating Ghanaians for the conduct of free, fair and transparent general elections.
Report says that PDP had, in a statement, said that the verdict of the people of Ghana in the presidential election was a signal to the APC that its days were numbered. The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, had said in the statement that the power of the people in Nigeria, just like in Ghana, would ‘surely prevail and end the APC’s oppressive rule’.This, he said, would “return Nigeria to the path of good governance, security, political stability and economic prosperity on the platform of the PDP in 2027.”However, in his reactions to Ologunagba’s statement, Okechukwu said that the PDP clan should thank God that former President Muhammadu Buhari and President Bola Tinubu, out of sheer statesmanship, had refused to probe ‘the 16 locus years of PDP administrations’.Okechukwu, a former Director-General of Voice of Nigeria (VON), described the 16 years of PDP administrations as ones full of squandering and lack of plan.He said that Nigeria had yet to recover from the humongous culture of impunity and trust deficit planted by PDP on the Nigerian soil.Okechukwu said corruption was among the culture of impunity, saying it governed the privatisation of Nigeria’s electricity value chain, a key element in the country’s industrialisation drive.“Another is the blatant rigging of the 2007 general elections which the foremost beneficiary, President Umaru Yar’Adua, out of good conscience and noble magnanimity, publicly acknowledged the malfeasance which characterised his victory,” he said.Okechukwu also mentioned what he called conscienceless sale of the legislative and ministerial quarters, the annual rentage of which, he said, was bleeding the country’s treasury.“Another one is the neglect of $23 billion Greenfield Refinery, which could have saved over $70 billion expended on importation of refined petroleum products and which simulated the economic hardship of today,” he said.On why, for nine years, the APC administration could not fix those challenges, he recalled the efforts made by the Buhari administration to reopen talks on the Greenfield Refinery which, according to him, the Chinese regrettably rebuffed.The former VON director-general said that Nigerians were not in a hurry to forget the deliberate breach of the rotational convention of president from the north to the south.He said that the country could not also forget the utter disregard for Section 7 of the PDP’s constitution which expressly mandated zoning.Okechukwu advised the PDP not to insult the sensibilities of Nigerians by assuming that citizens would easily forget how they were put in the harms way.He said that PDP should thank God that Buhari and Tinubu did not want to probe them, adding “that’s why Nigerians cannot decipher the difference between the two political parties.” (NAN)
Sen. Ned Nwoko (PDP-Delta) says that Local Government Administration is central to democracy in Nigeria as it ensures grassroots governance and service delivery at the local level.This is contained in a statement signed by Dr Michael Nwoko, the Chief of Staff to the lawmaker in Abuja on Monday.Nwoko said this on the occasion of the presentation of an award “Icon of Hope” to him by the Association of Local Government Vice Chairmen of Nigeria (ALGOVC).
He was represented by his Chief of Staff. He said that the importance of local government administration in the country could not be overemphasised, as it was the bedrock of democracy.According to him, local governments in Nigeria play key roles in the country’s democracy by promoting participatory democracy, providing services, and representing citizens.“Local Governments help determine local needs and how to meet them. They also act as a link between the centre, state, and local people.“They are created to decentralise power and bring the government closer to the people. They perform both mandatory and concurrent functions.“It is in view of this that I took it upon myself to enhance the viability of local governments through the Paris and London club loan refunds,”he said.Dr Folashade Olabanji-Oba, ALGOVC National Chairman, while presenting the award at its 7th Annual National Conference, said the award was in recognition of the lawmaker’s significant contributions to strengthening local government administration.She highlighted Nwoko’s critical role in ensuring the Paris and London Club loan refunds, a financial breakthrough she said enhanced the capacity of local governments nationwide.(NAN)
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