Staff of Anambra State House of Assembly, under the backing of Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria (PASAN) have commenced an indefinite strike.
According to them, the strike is to press home their demand for financial autonomy of the legislative arm of government.
Mr. Abraham Okoye, the Chairman of PASAN in Anambra state in an interview with journalists said the indefinite strike was because of the inability of the executive arm of various states to accord full financial autonomy to the legislative arm.
Mr. Okoye said: “The association has issued a 21-day ultimatum, followed by another seven days’ notice, but regretfully, the state governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo was yet to make any move towards implementation of the demand. Section 121 of the constitution as amended provides that the three arms of government must be autonomous from each other to make way for separation of powers and checks and balances”.
He went ahead to say that, since the number one agenda of the governor of Anambra State is rule of law and order, it is only proper for him to show example with the granting of full autonomy to the legislature.
He also said that the continued delay in the process has adversely affected the operations of the legislative staff in many ways.
He further said that it is shameful that the state House of Assembly, with 29 standing committees had only one operational vehicle while Infrastructure within the complex was poor.
Also, earlier on Monday, staff of the legislative arm of government who reported to work were barred by the union’s taskforce from accessing the assembly complex.
