Senate makes U-turn, approves bill to extend service for National Assembly staff

“These countries had adopted the standard we want to adopt,
in terms of need to establish and strengthen institutional memories by ensuring
a certain retirement age threshold for legislative officials,” he said.

Opeyemi said he had done a lead debate and hence, urged the
Senate to pass the bill for concurrence.

The bill, which the current Clerk of
the National Assembly, Sani Tambuwal, would benefit from, was initially
rejected and stepped down after a heated debate on February 22.

The bill was heavily opposed by senators during the debate
on February 22, with Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe wondering if staff of the
National Assembly, who were employed by the National Assembly Service
Commission, NASC, are different from staff in other agencies of government to
warrant the elongation of their service.

The former Deputy Governor of Abia State faulted reasons
adduced by the sponsor of the bill that emphasised on specialization, insisting
that there was nothing special about staff in the National Assembly that would
warrant the 10th Assembly doing the wrong thing.

In the same vein, Senator Ali Ndume, representing Borno
South, opposed the bill, warning that posterity would not be fair to the
lawmakers if the interest of few individuals packaged in the bill was sustained
by the Senate.