It has come to the notice of the general public that the National Assembly management has been hijacked by the Clerk of the National Assembly (CNA), who is believed to be working to extend his retirement at all cost.
Recall that National Assembly Aides resumed with their Principals since June 2019, but unfortunately, they started receiving salaries after 6 months of resumption.
Another unfortunate thing is that Instead of receiving all their salary arrears as usual, they only got few months, some got 2 months, some 1 while few got 3 months instead of 7 months.
It is only in Nigeria that such illegality will be going on under the watch of the Principal officers of the National Assembly, including the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Senate President. These are great people we believe are working with President Muhammad Buhari (GCFR) in the fight against corruption.
Hon. Salam Bamidele, a member of the House of Representatives on 18th of March 2020 presented a motion on the floor of the House of Representatives asking that the NASS management be probed regarding the payment of the benefits accruing to the NASS Legislative Aides.
He knows the importance of these Aides to the National Assembly and that if care is not taken, these people are capable of shutting down the National Assembly activities and incapacitating the Federal Law Makers. This is the link to the video of the Motion presented.
https://youtu.be/rcV8fw8Gcp0
Some are already working so as not to allow the Motion see the light of the day, they are not leaving any stone unturned to sweep the motion under the carpet.
The Federal Legislative Aides, especially the Senior Legislative Aides (SLA) are like the Senior Special Advisers to the Governors. They deserve special treatments, the 8th Assembly got some unique legislative materials such as Laptops that will enable them work effectively few months to the end of 8th Assembly, is this what Nigeria is turning into?
Some of the Legislative Aides that served in the 8th Assembly are yet to get their severance since last year May, this funds have been budgeted for in the 2019 Budget and collected by the National Assembly Service Commission.
The Senior Legislative Aides are supposed to get cars to enable them effectively carry out their duties at the National level, they have not collected any in the history of National Assembly Legislative Aides in Nigeria.
Even the DTA, which is supposed to be a quarterly allowance, since they resumed in June 2019, this has not been paid once. They paid only the few Aides whose letter of employment reads June to September 11, and came up with another news not to pay others whose letters were dated from September 11 upward after they had intentionally delayed their letters for reasons well known to them. Their 28 days is hanging, heard the CNA is not ready to pay them. These are funds already collected by the management of National Assembly in the 2019 Budget.
The necessary authorities should immediately rise to rescue the Aides from an avoidable demoralisation. It is believed that the NASSCom has Human resource department, and they understand the meaning of MOTIVATION & COMPENSATION. If employees are demotivated and not properly taken care of, how do you expect such employees to perform optimally, effectively and efficiently.
Our problem in Nigeria is that we don’t get things right on time until it gets out of hand. These people have families, children and relatives. They have been borrowing from family and friends to manage between June – December 2019, now you refuse to pay them, how will they pay back their loans? They left their various states to answer this national calls to work with Distinguished Senators and Honourable members of the House of Representatives. Some of them leave on debts monthly, they work zealously and tirelessly but when it comes to their benefits, some people won’t let this get to them.
This is another calamity and embarrassment waiting to befall this nation. These people have been peaceful since they resumed in June 2019 because they believe they have Principal officers in the National Assembly who are supposed to stand for them but seems they are too busy to see the yearnings, silent cries and sad feelings of their staff.
Without the Legislative Aides, no legislator will be able to perform effectively and efficiently. These Aides are the engine room, Brain box and the life wire of the Law Makers. They deserve special treatments, they deserve timely benefits as stated in the National Assembly Aides benefits book.
This is a wake up call for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and other related commissions and Agencies. Alot is going on in the National Assembly that need to be quickly addressed but if we all fold our arms; the system will get more messier, deteriorated and the Aids will be forced to shut down the National Assembly. The aftermath of this we all know what the result will be globally. It will be a National disgrace and embarrassment if the Federal Legislative Aides decide to take laws into their hands by shutting down the Assembly and ensuring they get all their benefits before they resume work.
Stitches in time saves thousands.
For: Brighter Future and Change Ambassadors of Nigeria.