Workers Disrupt Assembly Sitting

The sitting of the Delta State House of Assembly, Asaba was on Tuesday disrupted following violent protests by the workers over the suspension of their allowances by the state government.

A detachment of the Nigeria police drafted from the police headquarters which is a stone throw from the assembly complex saved the situation from degenerating into a bloody one.

Addressing the workers, Comrade McCarthy Obrutu, chairman of parliamentary staff association of Nigeria, Delta State chapter wondered why the state government removed the special allowances from the February salary of the assembly workers, vowing that the union would do everything to protect the rights of the workers.

He accused the management of the state house of assembly of being insensitive to the plight of the Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria, saying that the removal of their special duty allowances from the monthly pay slip of February 2016 would not stand.

The assembly workers carried placards with various inscriptions `no special duty allowances, no work, assembly workers are no ghost workers`

Obrutu claimed that the special duty allowances paid workers are back by the laws of the national assembly, adding that workers in other states of the federation are enjoying such and that the case of Delta state should not be different.

Speaking to the aggrieved workers the speaker of the state house of assembly, Honourable Monday Igbuya agreed that the allowance was only suspended to enable government verify those who are qualified to receive it.

He therefore charged the workers to go about their normal duty as the Okowa administration was very ready to put smiles on the faces of workers through regular payment of salaries and allowances.

The speaker also told the workers that the house committee on establishment headed by Honourable Johnson Erijo was to handle the matter and proffer solutions.

In a chat with some of the protesting workers, they alleged high handedness of the speaker and that the honourable members were drawing outrageous salaries and allowances and were not ready to pay the entitlements to the workers who are the engine room of legislature.