management of the National Assembly over a three month unpaid
salaries of political aides appointed by the officers.
Both the presiding officers and principal officers were permitted
by the Revenue Mobilization, Fiscal and Allocation Commission
(RMFAC) to appoint specific number of aides who were placed on
consolidated scale of remuneration.
Since the beginning of the 8th assembly, it was gathered that the
management had not found it easy paying the salaries of the
aides and that of established workers due to paucity of cash
flow.
It was confirmed at the weekend that the last time political aides,
appointed by the presiding and principal officers, received their
salaries was in December, while those who were given letters of
appointment since January were yet to be paid a dime.
What is fueling the crisis, according to a National As sembly
source, was the re jection of a proposal by the management to
the principal officers to reduce the numbers of aides.
Daily Sun was informed that the proposal could not scale through
because of the political backlash of such moves since most of
the aides were either nominated nor imposed on the principal
officers by political and religion godfathers, friends, schoolmates
and family friends, including in-laws.
“Majority of the aides got appointed through godfathers, many
were imposed, so it will be difficult to go back home to say no
more jobs when some had collected salaries. In fact, it is like
committing political harakiri,” the source explained.
As at yesterday, it was learnt that the management had came up
with another option of opting out of the Consolidated salary
scale, which would allow the management to carry out a
downward review of salaries and emoluments.
“We have been informed that there will be a cut in our salaries,
although we have not been issued with a letter to back it up, but
it is a reality that we will not enjoy the salaries of our
predecessors, it is that bad but then it is better than nothing,” one
of the aides who resumed in January said.
Also, the review is expected to affect the quarterly allowances for
transport and training for political aides, the top management
revealed.
According to him, the management is yet to strike a balance on
the number of training sessions that would be organized for the
aides as everything is been done to reduce overhead cost.
National Assembly director of information and publication, Mr
Ishaku DIbal, could not be reached on his mobile phones to get
the reactions of the management on the matter.
~Sun
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