PASAN, NASSLAF; Same Strokes, Different Applications, By Mohammed Ahmed

The Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria PASAN , National Assembly chapter and National Assembly Legislative Aides Forum NASSLAF are all products and employee of the National Assembly Service Commission NASC, directly being supervised by the National Assembly management under the leadership of Clerk to the National Assembly, Arch Amos Olatunde Ojo in the current dispensation who will soon be retiring.

The employer(s) NASC and CNA had feigned fair treatments for this two most important organs of the National Assembly, with the leadership taking advantage of the huge lacuna and indecisions to force down the throat of NASSLAF members all sorts of inhuman treatments in the last few years, including human capital development.

PASAN presided over the bureaucratic activities of the members of the national assembly, while NASSLAF are in charge of assisting the federal lawmakers in ensuring the smooth running of offices and political activities for four years subject to reappointment from your principal (s).

This hugely differentiate NASSLAF members from PASAN as the former is tenured for four years, while the later is in the core civil service expected to either serve for 30 years in service or 65 years of age.

Advertisement

Since it is wholly a political environment with technocrats as supporting staffers, prioritizing the welfare of federal lawmakers both at the Senate and House of Representatives without recourse to NASSLAF members who were also political appointees was a misnomer.

Since 2019, federal lawmakers had accessed all their benefits including salaries and allowances, but till this moment NASSLAF had resorted to begging for payment of salaries not to talk of arears.

Arears of salaries of NASSLAF members, allowances of Duty Tour Allowances DTA, minimum wage, salary increment, salary parity among many others are been denied legislative aides for over three and half years since 2019, and just eight months to the end of the 9th Senate and one month to the exit of Clerk To The National Assembly CNA, Arch Amos Olatunde Ojo.

With all sorts of hue and cry, NASC and CNA had feigned pretences , but will the usual slogan to heap blames on the current CNA when he retires in November , next month 2022.

Ojo who promised salary payments on or before 29th of every month to NASSLAF members on assumption of duty , but now resorted to payment on the 36th and 35th of the month , had been consistent in payment to PASAN members between 27th-29th of every month.

His promise of offsetting all salaries and allowances of NASSLAF was now subject to media achievements only on the pages of newspapers in Nigeria.

Even at the slight of inconveniences and denial to NASSLAF, PASAN had a good deal of payment of all accruals to levels 9 downwards and subsequently to other higher levels before the end of the 8th Assembly of all outstanding’s, with no provision for their colleagues NASSLAF.

It is even more interesting to note that PASAN had held NASC to ransom not to dare into going into fresh recruitment of staffers, without recourse and attention to their lingering demands.

For NASSLAF, the end of their agitations will be commencement of the 10th Assembly, when the change of baton will be effected at the leadership of NASS in June 2023 , but not at CNA level and NASC.

NASSLAF had been reduced to mere dog that can only bark but cannot bite, as the agitations for salary arears, allowances and other benefits may elude them before the winding down of the 9th Assembly.

This is coming ordinarily when NASSLAF members deserve attention as political appointees whose benefits interms of salaries and allowances are tenured, as the authorities concerned had no thought of rethink in their tills.

It is only in National Assembly that same appointees in political and bureaucrat circle, had same strokes and different application of the strokes, an abberation to Nigeria quasi- government and political environment.

Ahmed Mohammed Writes From Zaria, Kaduna State.