Staff of Abia State House of Assembly, ABHA, on Monday joined the Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria, PASAN in the indefinite strike that commenced nationwide on Monday over the non-implementation of financial autonomy of the house by the state government.
The staff of the house shut down the house following the failure of the state government to implement financial autonomy granted to the State Houses of Assembly.
Abia PASAN members barricaded the entrance to the Assembly premises and blocked the Assembly gate with a big banner with the union’s logo, even as their task force barred.
However addressing newsmen on the occasion of their action, the Abia PASAN Chairman, Mr Sunday Kalu, said the action by the state chapter was in compliance with the directive from the national body, adding ‘it was also as a result of the failure of the state government to domesticate the Executive Order 10 signed by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2020″.
The Abia PASAN chairman noted that the union had embarked on the strike some years back, but later decided to suspend it after negotiation with the government stating “and up till now nothing has been done”, stating “we embarked on indefinite strike, pending when we get a concrete achievement for our members” and expressed his worries that some states had started partial implementation without due process fully followed.
He lamented, “In Abia, we have not gotten the administrative autonomy which is paramount. We have Abia State House of Assembly Commission Law that empowers the Assembly to stay on its own administratively.
“We are calling on the State Government to do the needful by constituting the Assembly commission and then the financial autonomy.”
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