By Josephine Oguntoyinbo

Staff of the Ondo State House of Assembly under the umbrella of Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria, PASAN have embarked on indefinite strike over non-implementation of Legislative Financial Autonomy.

The move is sequel to failure of the Executive Arm of Government to address their demands after 21 days ultimatum.

To this end the entrance of the Ondo State House of Assembly was under lock as a result of nationwide indefinite strike of the Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria (PASAN) over failure to implement legislative financial autonomy by concerned authorities.

Members of the association who were resolute in their demands staged a peaceful walk at the Assembly axis carrying placards with various inscriptions chanting solidarity songs.

Chairman of PASAN in Ondo State, Mrs Omolola Olufemi said the move was in compliance with national directive following the failure of government to address the demands for financial autonomy and welfare package for legislative staff.

Mrs Olufemi who noted that financial autonomy is crucial to the growth of the legislature said the association had given government enough time to implement the financial autonomy following the suspension of the strike two years ago.

According to her, “You could recall that the bedrock of parliamentary autonomy hinges on financial independence. Autonomy in this context is simply defined as non-dependence and non-subordination of parliaments in relation to the executive.

“The Parliaments should have equitable access to resources”. As such, parliaments by constitutional arrangements are supposed to have enough financial muscle to carry out their legislative mandate, including exercising power over the budget.

Also, the PASAN National Ex-Officio, Mr Olumide Tapere said that parliaments should assert their role as a separate arm of government, and be independent of the executive in the way they organise themselves.

“There is no two way to it, all we are asking for is financial freedom so we can do things on our own and function well as entrenched in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria”

It would be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari had in May 2020 signed an executive order granting financial autonomy to the legislature across the 36 states of the country.