By Our Reporters
Parliamentary workers nationwide have grounded the activities of the State House of Assemblies all over the country, insisting that State House of Assembly in the country must be given financial autonomy as a basic ingredient of separation of power in democracy.
In Osogbo, Osun State chapter of the Parliamentary Association of Nigeria (PASAN) in allying to the call of the national leadership of PASAN has embarked on an indefinite strike to pave way for the financial autonomy of the State House of Assembly.
The State Chairman of Osun PASAN, Alhaji Adesina Adekunle, while addressing journalists at the house of Assembly Complex in Osogbo, announced that the Osun State chapter of PASAN needs to comply with the directive of the national body to pave way for the state government to implement the Executive Order 10 signed by President Muhammad Buhari last year.
The National Chairman of PASAN Comrade Usman Muhammad has on early hour of today directed all parliamentary staff in Nigeria to embark on strike indefinitely.
In his words, “Osun Assembly workers need to comply with national body directive to pave way for the house of assembly autonomy.
“We in Osun House of Assembly are in full compliance to join other States of the federation on this strike action.”
Noting that all staff are in total support of the national body directive on the indefinite strike, he urged the State governor to fulfil the demand.
Members of the association were seen bearing placards with inscriptions such as, “Autonomy No going back”, “Financial Separation means Separation of Power”, “Service for Democracy” amongst others.
Meanwhile, President Buhari, last year, assented to the Executive Order 10 to allow the State House of Assemblies to be financially independent.
In Abeokuta, the Speaker of the Ogun State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Olakunle Oluomo has appealed to the State Chapter of PASAN to allow for further engagements between the Conference of Speakers of State legislatures and the Nigeria Governors’ forum on the modalities for the seamless implementation of financial autonomy for State legislatures.
Oluomo made the appeal while addressing the leadership of the Association in the State led by Comrade James Obanla.
Obanla had led other Assembly workers to enforce the compliance of the directive of the national leadership of the association to embark on indefinite industrial action over the failure of the Governors’ Forum to implement autonomy for the State Legislature.
The Speaker explained that further engagements between the concerned parties became expedient to sort out grey areas, especially on the implementation process of the autonomy as pronounced by President Muhammadu Buhari through the Executive Order 10.
Recalling the previous meetings held with the representatives of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum including Governors Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti, Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto, Simon Lalong of Plateau and Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi State at the instance of the Conference of Speakers leadership, Oluomo stated that the process would achieve desired result within the next two weeks which hopefully would lead to smooth implementation in due course.
“The Governors agreed with us that the financial autonomy is a constitutional matter and they believe it must be so, but the area of disagreement is the method of implementing it, hence, we have submitted our proposal to them on how it could be done. They promise to take it back to their brother-governors and get back to us within two weeks, I believe that within this two weeks something tangible would be done,” Oluomo remarked.
Earlier in his address, the Chairman of the State Chapter of (PASAN) Comrade Obanla stated that the strike was as a result of the refusal of government to implement financial autonomy for the State legislatures as enshrined in the 1999 constitution (as amended).
He noted that the Assembly staff had to join the strike as ordered by the national body of the Association, saying that all activities would be grounded indefinitely, as the national body had earlier issued several notices to the government on the need to implement the financial autonomy signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari without any action.
Speaking on the benefits of the financial autonomy, he opined that the autonomy would enhance separation of powers and promote good governance through effective symbiotic relationships among the three arms of government.
In Oyo State, PASAN members paralysed legislative activities in the State’s House of Assembly over delayed in the implementation of the legislative financial autonomy.
The protest, which led to the blockage of all entrances leading to the House of Assembly complex, held early hours of Tuesday.
The protest was against continued denial of financial autonomy to legislative arm of the government.
The Chairman of PASAN, Mr. Yemi Alade, who spoke during the protest, said the Union embarked on indefinite strike to pursue the implementation of Executive order 10 signed by President Muhammadu Buhari last year.
He added that for Nigeria to witness true democracy, there must be financial autonomy for all arms of government, hunting that the strike would continue till their demands were met.
“Our appeal is to all the Governors to commence the implementation of the financial autonomy. It is surprising that they are not following the Presidential Order. We will not return to work until our demands are met,” Oyo Assembly PASAN Chairman insisted.
Reacting, the Speaker, Oyo. State House of Assembly, Honourable Adebo Ogundoyin, who threw weight behind the demands of PASAN, commended and supported the workers in their endeavour to demand their rights in a peaceful way.
He slated that the State House of Assembly and Conference of Speakers would interface with the Governor’s Forum for implementation.
Hon. Ogundoyin said the strike will no doubt paralyse the activities of the Oyo State House of Assembly, adding that it was however in the interest of democracy and the independence of the Legislative arms of Government.
He assured them that the Governors Forum will soon come up with a uniform way or modality of implementing the financial autonomy.
“ No state will go about it in different way. Everything will done in a uniform manner. Let me also say that, the Speakers’ Forum too will not relent until the financial autonomy is achieved,” the Speaker said.
In Owerri, the state PASAN Chairman, Victor Nnadi, said that the action was to press home their demand for legislative financial autonomy.
Nnadi said that the association had followed due process in making its demands known without success.
“We embarked on this strike to demand for the implementation of the Executive Order No 10, signed by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2020, granting the legislature financial autonomy.
“An implementation committee was set up and it has completed its assignment; all we want is for the order to be implemented.
“We issued a 21-day ultimatum, followed by another ultimatum and yet another 14-day ultimatum before the last one which was 7 days.
“All this was done to ensure that we fulfilled all the extant laws on strike, all state Houses of Assembly in the country are affected,” Nnadi said.
In Ekiti State, members of the association barricaded the entrance of the assembly complex in Ekiti, thereby shutting activities at the House of Assembly.
Speaking with journalists in Ekiti on Tuesday, Mr Tope Eyitayo, PASAN National Publicity Secretary, vowed that the State Houses of Assembly would remain shut until their demands were met.
Also, the state PASAN Chairman, Mr Gbenga Oluwajuyigbe vowed that until the association’s demands were met, the state assembly would remain shut.
“We will not open the door for activities until our demands are met, because this strike is indefinite,” he said.
In Jigawa, members of the association shut down activities at the State House Assembly in Dutse.
Mr Umar Adamu, the state PASAN chairman told journalists in Dutse that the chapter had joined the strike, following directive by the national president of the association.
He explained that the strike was imperative following the inability of the Federal Government to implement the Financial Autonomy Act of 2018 and the Executive Order 10, 2020.
The chairman added that the association has exhausted all avenues for the implementation of the act by the federal government.
According to him, the association has no other option than to embark on the indefinite strike.
“All we are demanding is full implementation of the Financial Autonomy Act, condition of service, consolidated salary and allowances structure and 40 instead of 35 years or 65 instead of 60 years retirement age,” the chairman said.
In Sokoto, members of the association joined their counterpart across the country to embark on an indefinite strike.
The state PASAN Chairman Mr Ado Abdullahi who led members of the association to shut down the assembly complex said that the action was in compliance with directive from the national body.
Abdullahi who spoke with journalists in Sokoto said that the directive was based on the non-implementation of financial autonomy act and executive order 10.
“Our members have run out of patience and have resolved to forthwith put an end to condoning further delays to the implementation of state Houses of Assembly financial autonomy which is for over two years now.”
Likewise in Lagos, the State Chapter of PASAN embarked on an indefinite strike over non-implementation of financial autonomy for state legislatures.
The Chairman of the chapter, Mr Taofiq Adele, said: “Recall that the bedrock of parliamentary autonomy hinges on financial independence.
“Autonomy in this context is simply defined as non-dependence and non-subordination of parliaments in relation to the executive.
“This non-dependence and non-subordination as stated above is in terms of unfettered control, over financial and other related resources.
“Therefore, according to the best practices, the parliaments should have equitable access to resources.
“As such, parliaments by constitutional arrangements, are supposed to have enough financial muscle to carry out their legislative mandates, including exercising power over budgets.”
According to Adele, parliaments should have control of and authority to determine and secure their budgetary requirements unconstrained by the executive.
He said that such an arrangement would further save for budgetary constraints dictated by national circumstances.
The unionist said there is the need for the legislature to assert its role as a separate arm of government.
He added that the parliaments should be able to have control over their own timetable and ability to recall themselves outside normal sessions, if required by circumstances.
The chairman said that the principle of autonomy in practice includes parliaments’ responsibility for their own staffing and control over their own budgets.