By Haruna Salami
National Assembly Legislative Aides Forum, NASLAF has alleged “monumental corruption, and embezzlement of appropriated funds meant for payment of their salaries and allowances by the management of the National Assembly.
Chairman of the Forum, Salisu Usman Zuru said “In the 2019 Appropriation Act, the sum of N128 billion 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.
He said legislative aides usually assume duty same day with their principals, but due 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.
Regrettably, when it was time for payment of the arrears, management chose to pay some aides and refused to pay others, he said.
Zuru said the 9th NASSLAF EXCO has been battling management on these issues since inauguration in October 2020 to no avail.
“Management at first claimed that they have not received the report of the Hon Raji committee mandating it to pay up the arrears. Again, EXCO mounted pressure on Hon Raji committee to facilitate the transmission of the report to the CNA.
“On receipt of the report, the next pranks by management was that 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.
In specifics, their grouses include:
“CONLESS/Minimum Wage Increase, Non-payment of Duty Tour Allowance (DTA), Training/Capacity Building, Complicity of the National Assembly Service Commission (NASC) and National Assembly Leadership not Accessible”.
“In May 2010, the Federal Government approved the new Consolidated Legislative Salary Structure (CONLESS) for the staff of the National Assembly and Legislative Aides. The scheme provided for an immediate 50% increase in salaries while the remaining 50% will be spread over a period of eight (8) years. This has not been complied till date.
“In addition, the new minimum wage as approved by Federal Government in 2018, was supposed to take effect from January 2020. In January 2022, four (4) months out of the 24 months minimum wage arrears was paid to aides, while the consequential increase has not reflected in our salaries.
Accordingly, they called on management to as a matter of urgency attend to the following demands within the next two weeks: Payment of the outstanding balance of the 2019 salary arrears, payment of the remaining 20 months minimum wage arrears, immediate implementation of the minimum wage consequential adjustment with effect from February, 2022, implementation of the initial 50% CONLESS in our effective March 2022, immediate payment of our accumulated DTA from 2019 till date, with effect from March, 2022 and commencement of immediate training programme for all cadres of legislative aides in the service of the National Assembly management”.
In a swift reaction, the 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 noted that with cognizance to legitimate allowances yet to be paid to few Aides, NASSLAFF should learn to exhaust the internal mechanism for dispute resolutions as stipulated in the extant Labour Laws and also come to terms with reality of the paucity of funds confronting the Legislature and the nation with urgent need to prioritize the copious needs on ground.
Ojo, speaking in response to the purported world press conference addressed by NASSLAFF through Adesoro Tolu Austen, Special Adviser on Media & Labour regretted that the Union leaders’ inability to communicate management’s challenges and efforts in finding solution to its members, but resort to deliberate blackmail thereby undermining their conditions of engagement which states that their appointment is at the instance of their Principals.
The Clerk to the National Assembly stated that funds approved in December 2021 through Virement was N25 billion which was meant for payment of minimum wage arrears and outstanding liabilities owed local contractor.
“Out of the approved amount, N5 billion was released for payment of minimum wage arrears wherein National Assembly Staff and National Assembly Service Commission Staff was allocated N2.3 billion while Legislative Aides got N2.7 billion.
“This amount regrettably was not enough, considering the large number of Legislative Aides to offset the total arrears owed. He added that the N20 billion left for payment of liabilities owed Local Contractors is still domiciled with the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Considering this situation, Ojo wonders how funds have been “misappropriated or diverted”.
The CNA, who further reiterated absolute commitment to improve Staff/Aides welfare and public service rules, expressed shock as to why Legislative Aides who never embarked on any official tour would be demanding for Duty Tour Allowances (DTA).
