Legislative Aides Protest Non-Payment Of N5bn Allowances As NASS Resumes
Legislative aides to members of the National Assembly on Tuesday held a protest over the alleged non-payment of their allowances totalling N5.8bn.
The workers, most of whom were dressed in black, stormed the lobby adjoining the Senate and House of Representatives chambers with placards as the lawmakers were resuming from their annual two-month recess.
They were however prevented from blocking the entrances to the chambers to allow lawmakers access to the floors for plenary.
While both chambers had resumed plenary, the protesters were still occupying a section of the lobby, where some of them sat on the floor and others were singing protest songs.
The legislative aides had on September 4, during the recess, threatened to shut down the National Assembly if their allowances were not paid before resumption.
Leader of the aggrieved aides, Mr. Sam Melaye, had said the entitlements must be paid before resumption by the lawmakers later this month, failure of which would lead to shut down of the National Assembly.
The entitlements, according to Melaye, are Duty Tour Allowances not paid to any one of them within the last three years, which he said was over N2bn now. He also listed training allowances, which he said amounted to N1bn annually, and now N3bn in arrears.
