About 30 top officials of the National Assembly staff will be retiring alongside the Clerk of the House, Magaji Tambawal, between now and next year February. Based on civil service and parliamentary practices, Tambawal commenced his three months pre-retirement leave on November 1, 2024, as he clocks 60 years by birth and has handed over the baton to his deputy, Kamouroudeen Ogundele.
Tambawal, who was first appointed acting Clerk to the National Assembly in November 2022 and later confirmed in March 2023, will turn 60 in February 2025.
Although he will be officially retiring in February, he will not be actively involved in any assignment or tasks from the commencement of his pre-retirement leave till when he officially vacates the office.
Other prominent staff that will be throwing-in the towel at the National Assembly apart of the Clerk of the house are; the Clerk to the Senate, Chinedu Akabueze, the Deputy Clerk to the Senate, and the Deputy Clerk of the House of Representatives.
Others are 11 directors, six deputy directors, one assistant director, and two other directors at the National Assembly Service Commission.
This is coming at the heel after President Bola Tinubu declined assent to the bill requesting service elongation for parliamentary staff forwarded by the lawmakers to the president office.
The civil service policy stipulates a 35years of service or 60years of age, but whichever comes first, however, the Bill was intended to work against that by elongating the extent policy by five years.
The bill was first introduced in the 7th Assembly, where it hits the brick wall and was reintroduced in the 8th and 9th Assemblies, but also failed.
The bill, was smuggled back to the 10th Assembly and sponsored by the Deputy Minority Leader of the House, Aliyu Madaki (NNPP, Kano) scaled through a second reading in the House in October 2023 and was eventually passed on December 20, 2023.
Initially the Senate initially rejected the bill, it however backtracked and passed it on March 31, 2024, before it was sent to the President for assent.
Following the President’s refusal to honour the bill, a number of directors are set for retirement between October and December.
Punch reported that “Most of the staff, both at top level and medium level, got employed by the commission in 1991/1992 when the National Assembly started, hence the reason for the exodus of retirees amongst staffs,”
The report added, “Many of them would either clock 60 years between this year and next year or would have spent 35 years working in the Civil Service.
“But many of those who are affected are as a result of age. It’s the season where a couple of the older staff would clock 60 years.”
It was learned that “The number of people retiring between this year and next year is quite huge. This is because many of the civil servants will be clocking 60 years.
“Even those who will be stepping into the new shoes have a few months to spend in the offices before they get to retirement age” the report added.
Another top official who pleaded anonymity lamented that the exodus of staff from the National Assembly would particularly affect legislative memory.
The source said, “There is no lie that a large number of people are retiring this year and next year.
“My worry is, do they have manpower on the ground that will fill that void? And if they do, what of the legislative memory? The parliament thrives on the longitude of service years; the experience will always be needed.”
Meanwhile, two high-ranking officers noted that the figure of those retiring was barely 50.