NASS Successes Made Possible By Legislative Aides – Nwala
Daily Metro News NG
A senior legislative aide to the Chief Whip of the Senate, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, High Chief Emeka Nwala Esq, has said that the greater part of achievements recorded by the current session of the National Assembly were made possible by the aides of the lawmakers.
He said the aides on the platform of the National Assembly Legislative Aides Forum ( NASSLAF) are the engine room that drives robust legislative activities of parliament.
Nwala noted that the legislative aides work behind the scene, but their achievements are seen through their principals, adding that it, therefore, becomes imperative for aides to be more united under the umbrella of NASSLAF in order to achieve their collective goals.
Nwala spoke on Wednesday during the declaration of his intention to vie for the chairmanship of NASSLAF at the National Assembly complex in Abuja.
He recalled how the Forum was previously active and seamlessly solved its teething problems in the 6th and 7th Assemblies until 8th Assembly when matters became worse.
“The need to place all members of NASSLAF under one umbrella has long been canvassed and encapsulated in a formal body which kick-started and achieved a lot on ground in the 6th National Assembly.
“We in the executive rallied the support of all members within NASS complex and at the constitutuencies to present cohesive and logical requests to NASS management for consideration and implementation resulting in what members enjoyed in the 6th Assembly and part of them in the 7th Assembly,” Nwala said.
He decried delayed salaries and allowances of legislative aides, stressing that it was affecting their productivity even as he commended the present NASS leadership for their intervention in payment of severance packages of legislative aides of 8th Assembly.
“Having run a successful administration in the 6th Assembly, I keenly watched the succeeding administrations of the 7th and 8th Assemblies and make bold to say that a lot went wrong and we all as members were the ultimate losers.
“Salaries were delayed, allowances were deprived and denied, training became stories and non-issues as the main motive was sniffled. To worsen matters, Congress was muscled to lose its cohesion and voice. Alas, the centre could not hold as things fell apart,” he lamented.