News
‘Review Retirement Age For NASS Clerk, Senior Staff Upward’
A legal firm, Alpha and Rohi, has called for the extension of retirement age of the clerk to the National Assembly (NASS).
The legal body also sought an extension of service year and retirement age of staff members of the National Assembly and National Assembly Service Commission (NASC).
The Managing Partner in the legal office, Mr Adeola Adedipe, delivered the position paper of the group at the Zonal Public Hearing on the Proposed Alteration to the Provisions of the 1999 Constitution held in Enugu.
The group’s position was also pushed at Akure, Kaduna, Port Harcourt, Minna and Bauchi centres of the 2-day public hearing.
The lawyer, who sought that the service year of the clerk and staff members should be reviewed upward to 40 or 45 years, said their retirement age should be put at 65 or 70 years.
It would be recalled that the current years in service of the clerk and staff members is 35 while the retirement age is 60.
Adedipe noted that parliamentary support service and legislative management is a specialised field that is developed over time.
“Undoubtedly, training and re-training of staff members over time, is an investment, the benefit of which must be maximised.
“As such, staff members that have gradually acquired the requisite skills and competence should be nurtured and retained in order to optimise the investment by government in them (as long as they are capable and productive).
“This, of course, is contrary to the current culture of discarding our experts at the very age when their skills and often labouriously acquired competence ought to be recognised as asset, exploited and deployed for the benefit of the country,” he said.
He argued that government should not reasonably trade off competence on the excuse that it needs to create jobs.
Adedipe, who alluded to the recent upward adjustment of retirement age for university professors, polytechnic lecturers and teachers in secondary schools, also gave example of the proposed bill for the harmonisation of the age of retirement of judicial officers which would see the age of retirement of judges of the high court reviewed upward to 70 years from the current 65 years.
The legal practitioner also advocated for the amendment of Section 51 of the Constitution for a harmonious designation of the clerk of the National Assembly as the head of legislative services.
He stressed that Section 51 as contained in the constitution and Section 9 of the National Assembly Service Act should be harmonised to give the desired effect.
According to him, this exercise is in no way new, as it had earlier been pressed for by the 8th Assembly before the effluxion of its tenure.
“It is to be noted that the clerk to the National Assembly, is the chief servant/accountant of the National Assembly, and is the institution’s back bone.
“The office is lubricant machinery for an efficient administration, with patent and inherent complexities.
“This consideration was already recognised by Section 9 of the NASC Act, but not wholly integrated by the Constitution even though, it is the ground norm.
“This, in part, supports the purpose of a constitutional review along this line, as it is intended to press for a proper designation of the office of the clerk to the National Assembly, as the Head of the Legislative Service for the Federation,” Adedipe said.
He insisted that amending the constitution in this regard would truly help to reflect the functions embedded in the office.
Rivers State Head of Service, Dr (Mrs) Inyingi Brown, has called on rural communities in the State to embrace the Rural Access and Agricultural marketing project (RAAMP) with a view to improving their living conditions.
This follows the ongoing sensitization campaign by the State Project Implementation Unit (SPIU) visits to Degema, Abonnema, Afam headquarters of Degema, Akuku Toru and Oyigbo Etche and Omuma local government areas respectively.
Dr Brown who was represented by the Deputy Director, Special Duties in her office, Mrs Dein Akpanah, said RAAMP was initiated by the Federal Government and World Bank to economically empower rural dwellers.s
She said the World Bank understands the plights of rural farmers and traders in the State, and therefore came up with the programme to address them.
According to her, RAAMP will improve the conditions of farmers, traders and fishermen, and therefore, behoves on every rural communities in the State to embrace the programme.
The Head of Service also said the programme would support the youths to be gainfully employed while bridges and roads will be built to link farms and fishing settlements.
Also speaking, the State project coordinator, Mr Joshua Kpakol, said the programme has the potential of creating millionaires among farmers and fishermen in the State.
Kpakol who was represented by Engr. Sam Tombari, said RAAMP would help farmers and fishermen to preserve their produce.
According to him, the project will build cold rooms and Silos for preservation of crops and fishes while access roads will also be created to link farmers and fishermen to the market.
He, however, warned them against any act that will lead to the suspension of the projects by the World Bank.
Kpakol particularly warned against acts such as kidnapping, marching ground, gender based violence and child labour, adding that such acts if they occur may lead to the cancellation of the project by the World Bank.
During the visit to Oyigbo local government area, Mr Joshua Kpakol, said the team was there to let them know how they will benefit from the Raamp.
The coordinator who was personally at Oyigbo said the World Bank introduced the project to check food insecurity in the State.
He said already 19 states in Nigeria are already benefitting from the project and called on them to embrace the project.
Meanwhile, stakeholders in the three local government areas have commended the World Bank for including their areas in the project.
They, however, complained over the incessant attacks by pirates on their waterways.
At Degema, King Agolia of Ke kingdom said land was a major problem in the kingdom.
King Agolia represented by High Chief Alpheus Damiebi said many indigenes of the kingdom are willing to go into farming but are handicapped by lack of land.
Also at Degema, the representative of the Omu Onyam Ekeim of Usokun Degema kingdom, Osoabo Isaac, said Degema has embraced the programme but needed more information on the implementation of the programme.
Similarly, while High Chief Precious Abadi advised that the project should not be narrowed to only crop farming, a community women leader, Mrs Orikinge Eremabo Otto, called for the construction of cold rooms in all fishing settlements in the area.
At Abonnema, Mr Diamond Kio linked the problem of the area to incessant piracy along waterways.
He also expressed fears over the possibility of the project being hijacked by politicians.
Also at Abonnema, a stakeholder, Ikiriko Kelvin, called on the World Bank to design an agricultural project that will suit the riverine environment, while at Oyigbo, HRH Eze Boniface Akawo expressed satisfaction with the project.
John Bibor
The political mudslinging between the Senate leadership and Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan continued yesterday as the Senate named Senator Aniekan Bassey as the new Chairman of the Committee on Diaspora and Non-Governmental Organisations.
Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, announced the appointment during yesterday’s plenary, confirming Bassey’s replacement of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, who is currently on suspension.
Akpoti-Uduaghan was reassigned to the Diaspora and NGOs Committee in February after she was removed as Chair of the Senate Committee on Local Content during a minor reshuffle.
Bassey is the senator representing Akwa Ibom North-East Senatorial District.
Although no reason was given for her removal yesterday, the change is believed to be connected to her unresolved suspension.
In May, Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court ordered her reinstatement and directed her to tender an apology to the Senate.
However, the Senate has insisted it has not received a certified true copy of the court judgment.
Akpoti-Uduaghan who represents Kogi Central, has yet to resume her legislative duties despite a recent court ruling that voided her suspension.
In a televised interview on Tuesday, Akpoti-Uduaghan said she was awaiting the Certified True Copy of the judgment before officially returning to plenary, citing legal advice and respect for institutional process.
Although the Federal High Court described her suspension as “excessive and unconstitutional”, a legal opinion dated July 5 and attributed to the Senate’s counsel, Paul Daudu (SAN), argued that the ruling lacked any binding directive to enforce her reinstatement.
Akpoti-Uduaghan, one of only three female senators in the current assembly, said the continued delay in allowing her return was not only a denial of her mandate but also a blow to democratic representation.
“By keeping me out of the chambers, the Senate is not just silencing Kogi Central, it’s denying Nigerian women and children representation. We are only three female senators now, down from eight,” she said.