The management of the National Assembly has given members of the House of Representatives till today, Monday, to move their personal belongings out of their offices 17 days to the end of their tenure, the Punch reports.
According to the report, the NASS management conveyed the directive to the 360 outgoing lawmakers via a memo. Also, senior legislative aides and other non-civil service members of staff in the lawmakers’ offices were reported to have received a similar memo.
A National Assembly source quoted by the report said: “They started receiving the memo on Wednesday last week, specifically asking them to move their personal effects out of the offices by May 18 (today).
“Many of them actually started complying almost immediately, particularly members who are not coming back to be part of the 8th Assembly.
“I have seen a couple of lawmakers’ aides moving personal property out of the offices since the memo came in.”
Majority of the current members of the House of Representatives will not be returning after the expiration of their tenure on June 5th.
An officer, speaking on the condition of anonymity, was quoted as saying that the move was “procedural” and meant to prepare the offices for re-allocation in the weeks ahead.
He said: “We have to prepare the offices because there is a lot of work ahead to be done.
“We are welcoming a new House. Most of the offices will be re-allocated. The name tags will change. Some ranking members will have to change offices.
“The same thing will apply to the sitting arrangements in the chambers. If we don’t start work now, we will not meet up with the schedule before the inauguration of the 8th Assembly.”
Reacting to the memo, the Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Zakari Mohammed, who acknowledged the existence of the memo, said it is nothing serious.
Mohammed said: “That one (memo) is nothing serious. I think it has to do with some renovations or repairs that they have to do in some of the offices.
“It is just to say, ‘give some space for the repairs’, a normal thing that happens.”
Comments