Sunday Aborisade in Abuja

The National Assembly has called for a distinct salary structure for legislative aides serving lawmakers in both chambers, while also seeking safeguards against arbitrary termination of their appointments by their principals.

The call was made yesterday  in Abuja by the Clerk to the National Assembly, Kamoru Ogunlana, at a three-day capacity-building training for legislative aides.

Ogunlana explained that although legislative aides are political appointees, their conditions of service are currently tied to the template of career civil servants, which does not reflect the peculiarities of their work.

“We are not unaware of the challenges you face. Unlike career civil servants, your appointments do not guarantee job security, tenure is largely dependent on your principals, and ranking is often not based on qualifications or competence,” Ogunlana said.

He noted that there was no comprehensive law or guideline defining the duties and responsibilities of the various cadres of legislative aides, a gap which, according to him, exposes them to arbitrary decisions and unfair treatment.

He said: “The present management believes it is time to address these systemic issues. 

“We are advocating that the National Assembly Service Commission and the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission should consider developing a distinct salary structure and conditions of service that reflect the unique nature of your work. 

“We also believe the qualifications for appointments should be reviewed to attract competent and experienced personnel. Equally important is the need for mechanisms to prevent arbitrary termination of appointments by principals,” he stated.

Also speaking at the training, the Chairman of the National Assembly Service Commission (NASC), Saviour Enyiekere, urged the aides to equip themselves with knowledge and skills that would make them more resourceful than their principals.

He said doing so would strengthen the quality of legislative outputs from both chambers of the federal legislature.

The training, organised by the National Assembly in collaboration with Research Enterprise Systems (RES), drew participants from various categories of aides, including Chiefs of Staff to the presiding officers, Special Advisers, and Senior Legislative Aides (SLAs) attached to lawmakers in the Senate and House of Representatives.

The federal legislature currently engages aides for all 469 lawmakers in both chambers, with the numbers running into several thousands.

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