NASS mulls special salary structure for Legislative Aides

…seeks to insulate their appointments from arbitrary termination

By Musa Baba Adamu

The National Assembly yesterday sought a distinct salary structure for Legislative Aides to the 469 federal lawmakers in both the Senate and the House of Representatives , totalling over 300,000 .

Aside from a distinct salary structure that will take care of peculiar financial needs of the legislative aides , the National Assembly also sought for insulation of appointments of the political appointees from arbitrary terminations by their principals .

Making the calls in his address at the 3 – day capacity building training organised for the legislative Aides at the A – Class Event Centre, the Clerk to the National Assembly , Barrister Kamoru Ogunlana , said the challenges must be tackled for the aides for better service delivery from them and by extension , better performance by the federal lawmakers.

He said : “ We are not unaware of the challenges you face. Although Legislative Aides are political appointees, your conditions of service are tied to the template of career civil servants, which appears not to take cognizance of your peculiar needs.

“ Unlike the career civil servant, your appointments do not guarantee job security, tenure is largely dependent on your principals, and ranking is often not based on qualifications or competence.

“Furthermore, there is currently no comprehensive law or guidelines clearly defining the duties and responsibilities of the various cadres of Legislative Aides.

 “This leaves gaps that sometimes expose you to arbitrary decisions and unfair treatment.

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

“ We are advocating that the National Assembly Service Commission and the Revenue Mobilization 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”

In his remarks at the training organized by the National Assembly in collaboration with Research Enterprise Systems ( RES), the Chairman of National Assembly Service Commission ( NASC) , Saviour Enyiekere, tasked the legislative aides to be more knowledgeable and skillfull than their principals for robust legislative outputs at both chambers of the National Assembly .

Categories of legislative aides attending the 3- day event are the Chief of Staff to the four Presiding officers in NASS , their Special Advisers , Senior Legislative Aides ( SLA) to federal lawmakers etc .