Chuks Okocha in Abuja
Ahead of the expected probe of the tenure controversy of the Clerk of the National Assembly (NASS), Sani Omolori, by the National Assembly Service Commission (NASC), the embattled Chief Executive Officer of the National Assembly has opened up on his service, stating that he is due for retirement on June 7, 2021, if he does not want to enjoy the five years tenure elongation.
Omolori was reacting to the tenure elongation crisis in the National Assembly that he and other senior staff of the immediate-past National Assembly Service Commission (NASC) ought to have retired.
THISDAY gathered that the condition of service for the National Assembly staff was amended close to the end of the eigtht National Assembly, following the passage of a bill titled: ‘Retirement age and conditions of service’.
The bill, as passed, shows that the years of service for civil servants in the National Assembly was adjusted from 35 to 40 years while the mandatory retirement age was upped from 60 to 65 years.
But the Director of Public Affairs for the National Assembly, Jerry Uhou, who said he has the Clerk of National Assembly permission to speak on the crisis said: “For the avoidance of doubt, the record is clear. Omolori joined the service of the National Assembly in February 1991 as a fresh employee from the defunct NEPA.
“He did not transfer his service. In civil service rule, if an officer is employed as a fresh employee, his years in that service begins from the day he is documented in his new appointment. Thus, if Omolori is not interested in benefiting from the increased year of service in the National Assembly by the virtue of the revised Conditions of Service for staff of the National Assembly, he will be due for retirement on June 7, 2021, after he would have attained the age of 60 years. If he stays on, he has the next six years in service, and it is his right as a staff of the National Assembly.”
According to the director of National Assembly Public Affairs, “Omolori resumed at the Ministry of Power in December 1989, and worked there up till January 1991. He had to resign because what was in vogue then was to come to Abuja, and he was interested in coming to Abuja because he wanted any work that would bring him to the city.
“He got a fresh appointment into the National Assembly in February 1991 as the pioneer lawyer of the Legal Department from where he rose to become the pioneer director in 2010. Subsequently, he got promoted to higher positions, including Clerk to the National Assembly.”
By this, Uhuo said: “The Clerk to the National Assembly, and other senior officers are expected to remain in office for another four to five years despite attaining the legal age for retirement, according to the details of the bill.”
