Hundred of legislative aides in the National Assembly on Tuesday staged protest against unpaid N5.8 entitlement vowing to shut down the National Assembly if their allowances are not paid before the resumption of the lawmakers on September 25, 2018.
The protest is coming when the total budget of National Assembly for the past three years is closed to N450 billion.
The aides who staged the protest in the lobby of the National Assembly said that since the inception of the 8th National Assembly, legislative aides have not been paid their allowances.
The aides were shouting ” pay us our entitlement in the lobby of the National Assembly.
Speaking with newsmen, Comrade Sam Melaye stated that the allowances of legislative aides have not been paid for the past three years putting the total of allowances at a staggering N5.8 billion.
Melaye vowed that the aides will shut down the Apex lawmaking body in the country on September 25, if the National Assembly Management fails to pay the money.
He said that the Management of National Assembly has failed to pay Duty Tour Allowances ( DTA) to the legislative aides for the past three years which is over N2 billion and training allowances which based on calculation of N1bn per year totaling N3 billion.
” By laid down procedures and yearly budgetary provisions of N250m on quartely basis , each of the legislatives aides is expected to go for training on the template of capacity building the totality of which is N1bn per year but for the past three years, no category of the aides have been sent on any training , let alone , paid the required allowances “, he explained.
Our correspondent gathered that the legislative aides in the National Assembly had been protesting non- payment of allowances and entitlement since the inception of 8th National Assembly.
The aides had alleged that bureaucracy in the National Assembly has diverted the budgetary provision for the payment of their DTA.
