Senate halts controversial retirement age bill of National Assembly staffers

The Senate on Thursday stepped down a bill seeking to extend the tenure of service of legislative staff at the National Assembly from 35 to 40 years and their retirement age from 60 to 65 years.

It also directed further research and consultation with stakeholders on the bill.

The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, announced the suspension of the bill after a majority of the senators voted against it through voice votes.

The bill was read the second time at the Senate after it was transmitted from the House of Representatives for concurrence but the lawmakers subsequently disagreed with it.

The bill titled “Harmonised Retirement Age for Staff of National Assembly Service Bill, 2024”

The bill was first introduced during the 7th Assembly. It was transmitted to the 8th Assembly and subsequently to the 10th Senate.

Domestic staff such as cleaners, security officers, errand staff, craftsmen, clerical staff, gardeners, stewards and cooks of the national assembly are not included in the provision of the bill.

The Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, while leading a debate on the bill argued that the extension of tenure and age of staffers of the National Assembly would be cost-effective and there would not be an opportunity to train new entries.

“The rate of turnover of members of NASS every election year puts the legislature into a dilemma of training new members.

“Consider what will happen if they are affected by the public service rules in retirement age. This will throw the institution into another level of learning process that will place a heavy financial burden on NASS engaging consultants. The cost-effectiveness of this bill is laudable” Mr Bamidele said.

The senate leader explained that the NASS needs to be strengthened by employing new people.

“Of the three arms of government, the NASS is least developed and this can be attributed to the dearth of its qualified staff who were cut off by the public service rule on retirement age. Considering the importance of the legislative service, the passage of the bill into law will strengthen the legislature as an arm of government”, he added.

“Legislative officers are eminently qualified to have their retirement age increased, this will strengthen the institution, improve service delivery, stabilise and develop the capacity of the legislature. Permit me to state here that the enactment of this bill will help save the institutional memory of NASS and be cost-effective in the long run, considering the cost of engaging consultants,” Mr Bamidele added.

Debate

The senator representing Abia South, Enyinnaya Abaribe, however, opposed the bill.

Mr Abaribe argued that the staff of other ministries are no different from legislative staff, and the core of the work at NASS is done by elected representatives.

“I have looked at the lead debate, let me put on record that I am opposed to this extension. The specialisation is not so different from other public services. If we say we want to make people who have knowledge stay, why don’t we pass a harmonised bill for everybody in the country, why should it be special here?” he queried.

“Every person who works as support staff here has some level of training. So we cannot use training as a reason. I do not see what separates the person who works here as a staff of the National Assembly from a person who works in other ministries” he stressed.

Katsina South senator, Muntari Dandutse, also opposed the bill for reasons of posterity.

Mr Dandutse argued that the bill will impact the employment of young graduates.

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“I am against this very bill. If you look at the situation this country is in, it will create a vacuum in the other ministries and posterity will judge us that we have done what is wrong. As a matter of fact, we have graduates and unemployed people who are fit to take up positions but are denied the responsibility to come to serve under this very important institution. We are making things difficult instead of solving what we are supposed to solve.

“What about those exempted in this bill, are they not human beings? We should also look at the reality of the economic situation. So I oppose this bill for posterity reasons,” he said.

After listening to the arguments, Mr Akpabio put the motion to step down the bill to a voice vote and it was carried to allow for further consultations.

“I have seen so many hands opposed to the bill, therefore the bill is controversial,” the senate president said.