By Leonard Okachie
The Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria (PASAN) on Tuesday reopened the Abia House of Assembly, following suspension of its three weeks old nationwide strike of state assemblies across the country.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports the state chapter of PASAN had on Oct. 30 embarked on the strike and shut down the assembly complex, over its demands for financial and legislative autonomy for state legislatures nationwide.
The Chairman of PASAN in Abia, Mr Sunday Kalu, said that the suspension of the strike was as a result of the agreement reached by the union with the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) and the Conference of Speakers(CoS).
According to him, the NGF and CoS affirm that financial autonomy is a constitutional matter and agreed on the implementation starting from Jan. 2024.
He said that the NGF and CoS had asked the union to suspend the strike to enable the Houses of Assembly to sit and pass the Fund Management Law, which is a prerequisite for financial autonomy.
“The union reasonably considered it and requested that we suspend the strike, on the condition that from now till Dec. 22, 2023, both Assembly Service Commission and Fund Management Law must be passed.
“The Letter of Commitment also grants PASAN the right to resume its strike action by Feb. 28, 2024, if all the commitments from NGF and CoS are not fully implemented,” Kalu said.
The chairman called on the state government to do the needful by establishing the Abia State House Service Commission and Fund Management Law, among others, to avoid another industrial action.
He thanked the PASAN members for their solidarity and urged them to continue to be committed to their duties.
NAN reports that the gardeners and some of the workers were busy tidying up the complex as at the time of visit.(NAN)
