The leadership of the House of Representatives has cleared the air over the Tuesday protest embarked upon by the Legislative Aides over the alleged unpaid allowances and the threat to shut down the National Assembly.
Fielding questions from the House of Representatives Correspondents in Abuja yesterday, the Chairman of the House Committee on Media and Publicity, Honorable Namdas Abdulrazak disclosed that most of the members of the National Assembly were not aware of the grievances of the aides until the news of the protest was aired on Television Stations.
Abdulrazak stated that based on the letters of employment given to the legislative aides, the issues of nonpayment of Duty Tour Allowances being complaint of by the aides is not contained in their conditions of engagements and as such is not a matter of right but privilege which could only be paid out any time they embarked on tours.
On the issue of training also raised by the aides, he stated that training is not a must for all the aides and that the categories of those entitled to training actually went through the training rather than being given physical cash.
On the threat to shut down the NASS if their demands were not met in a matter of days, he dismissed this, saying that the aides lack such power since they are temporary staff whose appointment could be terminated at any given time.
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