The Clerk to the National Assembly (CNA), Mr. Mohammed Sani-Omolori and the legislative aides of the 9th National Assembly under the aegis of Progressives Aides Caucus are at each other’s jugular over payment of allowances.
In a petition to the Senate President, Dr Ahmad Ibrahim Lawan, a copy of which was made available to DAILY POST in Abuja on Wednesday, the legislative aides alleged that, “the CNA was shortchanging them by ordering payment of accumulated allowances from the date on the letter appointment rather than the date of commencement of duties as attested by their Principals.”
The petition dated 12th November, 2019, which was signed by the Chairman of the Caucus, Barrister Lawson Oviasogie and Secretary, Mallam Ibrahim Abdulhamid, pointed out that some legislative aides have resumed duties before letters of appointments were issued to them.
The aides explained that payment of accumulated allowances had begun based on previous discussion before Sani-Omolori ordered abrupt halt, adding that it was a deliberate attempt to misappropriate the funds meant for them.
The petition allayed fears over what might happen, given that few aides have started receiving their salaries and allowances based on the date of resumption, noting that the delay of issuance of appointment letters wasn’t their fault.
“Omolori called an emergency Management meeting on Monday, 4th of November, where he gave marching order to the Salary Section to halt payment of Aides’ salaries.
“He also ordered a return of our files to Variation Unit with a clear instruction to pay Aides’ salaries commencing from the date on their appointment letter as opposed to the date on our assumption of duty form certified by our Principals.
“The CNA’s position was bereft of logic, fails in the face of global best practices and in conflict with well-established convention antecedents and practices, even in the previous Assembly which the CNA was an integral part of.”
They recounted how the CNA frustrated documentation of some aides even when those aides might have been issued their letter of appointments.
“We simply demand that Legislative Aides salaries be paid from when they assumed duty with their Principals as opposed to when National Assembly Service Commission/Management decided to issue out our letters of appointment”, the petitioner insisted.
“Some Aides’ nomination as Legislative Aide were acknowledged by the Commission on the 4th of July, 2019, while their appointment letters were not issued until August 27th, 2019.
“Even at that, the CNA frustrated their documentation by refusing to release the Clerk’s copy of their appointment letter till September 29th, 2019.”
The petitioners urged the Senate President, who is the Chairman of the National Assembly to intervene, insisting that they wanted payment of accumulated salaries and allowances from their resumption of duties.
