Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia
Parliamentary workers in Abia State, Monday, barricaded the entrance gate of the Abia State House of Assembly, to protest the non-implementation of financial autonomy for the legislature.
The workers declared indefinite strike to press home their demands.
They said they had run out of patience and decided to shut down the Assembly complex until Government attended to them.
The workers under the aegis of Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria (PASAN), blocked the entrance gate to the State Assembly complex.
The protesting union members prevented everybody from accessing the assembly complex as they displayed placards with various inscriptions, demanding the immediate implementation of the financial autonomy.
Speaking during the protest, Abia PASAN Chairman, Mr Sunday Kalu, said the protest was in compliance with the directive from the national body.
He said that 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.
Kalu said that the union had embarked on the strike some years back, but later decided to suspend it after negotiation with the government “and up till now nothing has been done.”
According to him, “the union has decided that we embark on indefinite strike, pending when we get a concrete achievement for our members.”
Kalu said that some states had started partial implementation but opined that due process was not fully followed.
He said: “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.”
