The Abia State House of Assembly has remained blocked as the state chapter of the Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria, PASAN on Friday, threatened not to re-open the State House of Assembly premises, until its demands are met.
PASAN Abia State chapter had on October 30, shut the assembly complex by joining others in the country to demand for financial and legislative autonomy of the state legislatures nationwide, while the leadership of the union in the state has continued to converge on the assembly gate daily to enforce total compliance, as the house has since then remained under lock and key.
They insisted that they would not call off the action nor re-open the assembly complex until they achieve “something tangible” for themselves and decried what they described as the “non-chalant attitude of the state government” over the matter.
Addressing newsmen, the state chairman of PASAN, Mr Sunday Kalu said they are disappointed that no government official had come to address them since the past two weeks the action commenced, explaining that their demands had the backing of the state law, which was properly passed and assented to by the state governor.
“We have been at this gate for two weeks, hoping that the Speaker will come and address his people and know how to relate with the executive, but we have not seen him or any House functionary. “We are still waiting.
“We will not relent in making sure that the institution, called the Legislature is properly constituted and ready to deliver its services. The union is still agitating for the Consolidated Legislative Salary Structure, which is for every legislative worker in Nigeria, but as at today, nothing has been done”, he said, adding that it is a national strike, “but we are speaking up in Abia because we are far below what other states are doing”.
Kalu who used the opportunity to speak on the perceived delay in the inauguration of the seven-member Abia State House of Assembly Service Commission, said the union was tired of promises it had been getting from the State Government.
He warned against the alleged plan by the state lawmakers to sit outside the assembly complex to confirm the recently nominated Transition Committee (TC) chairmen and their deputies for the 17 Local Government Councils, stating “We are totally against it and I don’t know how they will sit without the mace, clerk and the secretaries, who are parliamentary staff.
“You can’t go to your personal residence or lodge to clear the TC Chairmen, while nothing has been done about your own (Assembly Service) Commission, which you are the major beneficiary.”
Reaction to the stand of PASAN, Abia state, the Deputy Speaker, Mr Augustine Mmeregini, who is the Chairman, House Committee on Information, queried why the union would say that neither the Speaker nor any of the leadership of the house had yet to address them, stating, “the Speaker, himself and few other officials met with the union leaders and promised them that they would meet the governor to resolve the matter soon.
“We met with them two days ago and told them that we stand with them. Having met with the union leaders, do they now expect us to go to Abuja and address them openly or stay at the assembly gate with them?
In its reaction, the Abia State Government, ABSG said that the present administration of Gov. Alex Otti is taking up issues in the state one after another.
According to the Chief Press Secretary, CPS to the governor, Kazie Uko “The Executive is not unmindful of their matters. The Executive will attend to them, having been faced with the civil service reforms and the payment of the huge debt left behind by the previous governments in the state” and appealed to them to be patient.
