Nation
Workers make good threat, shut down National Assembly over unpaid arrears
Adebayo Obajemu
Sunday, workers at the National Assembly threatened to shut down the parliament, to express their angst over unpaid arrears of salaries.
On Monday, workers under the umbrella of the Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria, PASAN, blocked the main entrance to National Assembly with a bus, as they gyrated to a protest music from a disc jockey stationed at the entrance.
Power and water supplies to the buildings have been reportedly cut, creating hiccups for the lawmakers, as private and public businesses in the premises, such as banks and restaurants have had to shut down.
Lawmakers, according to reports are being made to make U-turn.
PASAN had on Sunday threatened to disrupt activities at the Assembly and to commence an indefinite strike by its members over the non-payment of a backlog of salaries and allowances by the management.
PASAN issued the strike notice via a statement issued by its Secretary-General, Hammed Awobifa.
In the statement titled ‘PASAN Declares Indefinite Strike to Demand Full Implementation of the Revised Conditions of Service (2018),’ the association stated that the industrial action was coming after three notices to the management led by the Clerk to the National Assembly, Amos Ojo, within three weeks.
The statement read in parts, “The Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria, National Assembly Service Commission, and National Assembly (chapters), at its joint congress meeting (sic) of June 2, 2022, resolved to embark on an indefinite strike over the failure of the National Assembly management to implement the subsisting MoU jointly signed by NASC and NASS management and PASAN on April 13, 2021.
