Some legislative aides to federal lawmakers on Tuesday staged a peaceful protest to demand unpaid allowances, The aides were positioned in the complex, at the lobby between both chambers of the National Assembly, as they sang solidarity songs and held up placards with inscriptions, “we are aides, not slaves.” Both the upper and lower chambers were expected to resume plenary today. The Senate resumed plenary and promptly entered into a closed-door session presided by Senate President Bukola Saraki. Nyakari-Abasi Etuk, who led the protesters, told journalists that they have not been paid Duty Tour Allowances (DTA) among others, since the inception of the 8th assembly. “Some of us they are owing us up to one point something million and these are funds we use to go on errands and other miscellaneous things. “The last leadership of the national assembly paid us up to date. We are not talking about training, the issue of training is also there, we are supposed to have four trainings in a year“ Ever since we started we have not had training. The training that we had was sponsored by the National Assembly Service Commission. All we are asking for is our entitlements,” he said.
