NATIONAL ASSEMBLY GETS NEW CLERK

By NBF News

A new Clerk to the National Assembly (CNA), Alhaji Salisu Maikasuwa yesterday formally took over from Mr Oluyemi Ogunyomi at an impressive ceremony attended by senior management staff and some lawmakers.

Before yesterday, Maikasuwa had been acting as CNA when Ogunyomi proceeded on terminal leave three months ago, after attaining the mandatory 35 years as a civil servant.

Ogunyomi, had served in several capacities in the National Assembly first as the clerk of the House of Representatives, clerk of the Senate, deputy clerk to the National Assembly (DCNA) and later the CNA.

At the handing over ceremony, Maikasuwa assured the staff of National Assembly of a better welfare package to make them productive.

He also promised an open door administration and urged the directors and heads of departments to cooperate with him so that they could work as a team.

In his valedictory speech, Ogunyomi lamented the neglect of the National Assembly Institute, saying that from the attitude of the management, it was like the institute might be allowed to die.

'Any moment from now, the programme of the institute is likely go into oblivion, it was designed to train over 2000 staff of the National Assembly,' he stated.

Retrospectively, he recounted how he was able to move the institution forward by instilling discipline in the staff within six months he assumed the mantle of leadership.

According to him, he inherited a service where members of staff were polarized into several camps, just as they were ill-motivated and not well trained for the task assigned to them.

He disclosed that his management made it a matter of priority to adequately train the workforce and advocated a new salary scale that would reflect their efforts.

Ogunyomi said his first task was to unite those camps and ensure discipline and adherence to due service, while his management recommended that a separate salary scale be adopted in the remuneration of parliamentary workers in line with global democratic practice, which was approved by both chambers.

Commenting further, the retired clerk lamented that the National Assembly Institute that succeeded in training over 2000 staff in the recent retraining programme was about to go into oblivion.

He, however, warned that the incoming management should be careful in the handling of the training programmes for workers for them to be alive to the challenges ahead.

Listing various challenges that Maikasuwa-led management would likely face, Ogunyomi said the new management should not allow the Institute to die because of the need to train the staff of the National Assembly to respond to the challenges of the legislative arm of government.

Meanwhile, a new Deputy Clerk to the National Assembly, (DCNA) had been appointed, he is Mr Muyiwa Adejokun.