By Nathaniel Zacchaeus, Abuja
The Senate yesterday dropped a controversial Bill which sought to extend the service year of the National Assembly staff by an additional five years.
The bill which has been passed by the House of Representatives, failed to pass for concurrence at the Upper Chamber.
There was an uproar in the Senate immediately after the Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele introduced the bill.
Apart from the Senator representing Kano South, Sumaila Kawu, who supported the bill, others, including Senators Enyinnaya Abaribe, Ali Ndume, and others, rejected the proposed legislation, insisting that it would cause discrimination in the Nigerian civil service.
Abaribe said, “The fact that there is harmonised retirement age for teachers does not mean the same gesture should be extended to the parliament staff.
“We passed the teacher’s bill because they are the bedrock of raising and developing the society. The rate at which people are leaving the country because of low pay, we saw the need to pass the teacher’s bill.
“We passed the same for the judicial officers because there was a justifiable need to do so. In the National Assembly, every director here has a deputy, and every clerk here also has a deputy. When the people retired, their deputies moved up.
“Why must we stall employment in the National Assembly because we want some people to stay extra years?”
Ruling on the matter, Senate President Godswill Akpabio said the red chamber was stepping down the bill because it was controversial.”
The National Assembly plans to extend the tenure of the current clerk to the National Assembly, Sani Tambawal Magaji, and over 200 staff if the bill is passed.
If the bill passes, over 200 staff due for retirement in November this year may likely get a five-year service extension.
But the Senate refused concurrence to the controversial bill on the extension of retirement age for civil servants in the legislative arms and across the 36 State Houses of Assembly.
Staff who are apprehensive about the bill said attempts by the Senate to pass a Bill for an act to extend the retirement age of the staff of the National Assembly Service from 60 to 65 years of age and from 35 to 40 years of service is counterproductive.
Successive management of the National Assembly bureaucracy since 2017 made attempts to allegedly buy over the leadership and members of the Senate and the House of Representatives to make a law extending the tenure of service as against the condition prescribed by the Public Service Rules which provides for retirement age of persons in the public service of the federation at the attainment of 60 years of age or 35 year of service whichever comes first.
Some National Assembly workers’ unions under the aegis of Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria (PASAN), have endorsed a new bill that seeks to extend the service years of staff of the apex legislature, a document has revealed.
This is, however, contrary to earlier media reports that the Clerk to the National Assembly (CNA), Sani Magaji Tambawal, and about 200 members of top management due for retirement this year are behind the bill.
The bill which has been passed by the House of Representatives and is now before the Senate for concurrence, seeks an extension of retirement age of staff of the National Assembly Service from 60 to 65 years of age and from 35 to 40 years in service whichever is earlier.
The Civil Service Rules currently prescribe 35 years in Service or 60 years of age for employees to mandatorily retire.
It was gathered that staff of the National Assembly had during its Congress on December 4, 2023, issued a communique in which they adopted the Bill despite their earlier opposition.
It was titled, “Communique issued at the end of Congress organized by Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria (PASAN) National Assembly Chapter, held on Monday 4th December 2023 In Senate Conference Room 231, New Building, National Assembly, Abuja.”
