Legislative aides to senators and members of the House of Representatives, Tuesday, threatened to shut down the National Assembly if allowances allegedly owed tham totalling N5.8 billion were not paid before the September 25, 2018, resumption date of NASS.
The legislative aides in their hundreds, who made the threat Tuesday at the central lobby of the National Assembly, were seen shouting “We are aides and not slaves, pay us our entitlements” !
Addressing journalists on their plights, chairman of the aggrieved legislative aides, Comrade Sam Melaye, stated that the entitlements totalling about N5.8 billion now, must be paid before resumption of the lawmakers this month, failure of which will lead to shut down of the National Assembly.
According to him, the entitlements are Duty Tour Allowances, DTA, not paid to any one of them within the last three years, which is over N2bn now and training allowances, which based on calculation of N1 billion per year, is now N3 billion.
He said: “By laid down procedures and yearly budgetary provisions of N250m on quarterly basis, each of the legislative aides is expected to go for training on the template of capacity building the totality of which is N1bn per year but for the past three years, no category of the aides have been sent on any training, let alone, paid the required allowances.”
Melaye, who disclosed that the aides under the aegis of National Assembly Legislative Aides Forum, NASSLAF, have made efforts to get the leadership of the National Assembly politically and administratively within the last three months to get the monies paid without required response or cooperation from them.
After the protest, Nelson Ayewoh, the Clerk to the Senate, in his capacity as Acting Clerk to NASS, had audience with the aggrieved aides in his office but after the meeting, the protesting aides returned back to the lobby, shouting “no retreat, no surrender! “
