Legislative aides protest unpaid allowances as n’assembly resumes

As the national assembly resumed from recess on Tuesday, aides of lawmakers staged a protest over their unpaid allowances.

The aides, under the aegis of National Assembly Legislative Aides Forum (NASSLAF), took over the lobby of the assembly from which the upper and the lower legislative chambers can be accessed.

They displayed placards with inscriptions which read ‘Lack is killing aides S.O.S’ , ‘Omolori pay us our money’.

Speaking with journalists, Nyakari-Abasi Etuk, president of NASSLAF, said they did not have issues of payment of allowances under the last leadership of the assembly.

He said most of the aides could not meet basic needs of their family. E

Etuk lamented that six months to the end of the assembly, there is no talk about severance packages.

“Some of us they are owing us up to one point something million and these are funds we use to go on errands and other miscellaneous things. The last leadership of the national assembly paid us up to date,” he said

“We are not talking about training, the issue of training is also there, we are supposed to have four trainings in a year. Ever since we started we have not had training. The training that we had was sponsored by the national assembly service commission. All we are asking for is our entitlements.

“We have tried we are calling on the leadership – so we are telling the world that they are owing us, they are taking us to the point where we have to address everybody. This is our plight this is our concern, we are telling everybody – today is the resumption date – most of the aides, some have died, some don’t have money to send their children to school.

“The leadership as a matter of urgency – we are calling on the leadership to ensure that our allowances, to ensure we collect our duty tour allowances.

“Every year, allocations and budget are given to the national assembly which captures the legislative aides. So all we are saying, all we are asking for is for them to pay us.”