Nasarawa Assembly Management urges staff to ignore NLC strike, resume work

The Management of the Nasarawa State House of Assembly has called on all its staff to resume work immediately.

The Clerk of the House, Mr. Ego Maikeffi Abashe stated this while briefing newsmen in his office in Lafia the State Capital.

He said the State Assembly staff just resumed from over two months strike embarked upon by the Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria (PASAN) over financial autonomy, hence the need not to join the NLC strike in the state.

“We just resumed from two months strike over financial autonomy and I don’t think it is healthy for the workers of the Assembly to join NLC strike in the state.

“The question I ask myself is that, are we going to be part of the beneficiaries of the demands of NLC in the state? If at last their demands are met, we have our peculiar issues,” the Clerk said.

“Joining their strike at this moment is not wise after spending over two months at home while others were on.

“I have directed all my Directors to inform their staff to come back to work with immediate effect,” he added.

A return back to negotiations

When contacted, the National Treasurer of PASAN in the State Assembly, Comrade Yusuf Kasim, and the State PASAN Chairman, Comrade Dauda Nuhu both called on the NLC and the State Government to return to the negotiation table in the best interest of the state.

“We in the State Assembly as a Union under PASAN are an affiliate body to the state NLC and we are in solidarity but with this development, what I want to advise is that for the best interest of the state, let the NLC and Government return to the negotiation table and resolve the matter amicably.

“We are hopeful that in the next few days the issues will be resolved between government and NLC” he said.

It will be recalled that apart from the State Assembly, the Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) in the State said it will not take part in the strike embarked upon by NLC.

Emmanuel Ukoh