The Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria (PASAN) on Tuesday suspended its three weeks old nationwide strike of state assemblies across the country.
The Chairman of PASAN in Abia, Mr Sunday Kalu, said that the suspension of the strike was as a result of the agreement reached by the union with the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) and the Conference of Speakers(CoS).
According to him, the NGF and CoS affirmed that financial autonomy is a constitutional matter and agreed on the implementation starting from January 2024.
He said that the NGF and CoS had asked the union to suspend the strike to enable the Houses of Assembly to sit and pass the Fund Management Law, which is a prerequisite for financial autonomy.
“The union reasonably considered it and requested that we suspend the strike, on the condition that from now till December 22, 2023, both Assembly Service Commission and Fund Management Law must be passed.
“The Letter of Commitment also grants PASAN the right to resume its strike action by February 28, 2024, if all the commitments from NGF and CoS are not fully implemented,” Kalu said.
The chairman called on the state government to do the needful by establishing the Abia State House Service Commission and Fund Management Law, among others, to avoid another industrial action.
He thanked the PASAN members for there solidarity and urged them to continue to be committed to their duties.
Recall that Staff of Abia State House of Assembly, ABHA, had on October 30th joined the Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria, in the indefinite strike that commenced nationwide over the non-implementation of financial autonomy of the house by the state government.
The staff of the house shut down the Assembly complex 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 bearing the union’s logo.
Abia Parliamentary Workers Suspend Strike After PASAN’s Agreement With NGF is first published on The Whistler Newspaper