RAYMOND OZOJI reports
Investigations into the goings on at the Anambra State House of Assembly complex Awka have revealed that the parliamentary staff need urgent help from Governor Chukwuma Charles Soludo because the workers are not only living in abject penury and squalor, they are also dying out of frustrations due to poor conditions of service.
The latest episode was the tragic death of one Tochukwu Ezekobe of the Publications Department who took a loan from the service to pay her school fees but died mysteriously over query on why she could not repay the loan she collected.
Further investigation has it that Tochukwu Ezekobe was not the only victim of miserable death amongst legislative staff as Amasiani Christiana was another victim of similar circumstance.
This journalist gathered that Amasiani Christiana of same Publications Department died mysteriously in her room and was discovered after two days when the body had started decomposing.
Sources also confirmed that Anambra State House of Assembly workers have lost three colleagues this year; two in January and one in November this year over vicissitudes of life due to poor pay and outright lack of incentives and welfare packages.
It was equally gathered that 85% of parliamentary workers depended on loans to fend for their families such that after deductions what they have left would not be more or less than N7000. This is the dilemma of the Anambra assembly worker.
Inside sources further revealed that the workers are the mercy of elected Honourable members whom they depended on for crumbs to augment their miserable salaries due to government's blatant refusal to implement the Consolidated Legislative Salary Structure (CONLESS) for House of Assembly Staff, creation of the Legislative Service Commission as well as payment of peculiar allowances as contained in relevant laws.
Sources who preferred anonymity told this journalist that their plight is really terrible and pathetic because they have written countless letters to the governor for them to be paid their allowances and also look into issues of workers' welfare but all to no avail as government seems insensitive to their plight.
They said that the House of Assembly doesn't have financial autonomy neither does it have administrative autonomy as 80% of the staff members were posted from the office of the Head of Service, which they described as a misnomer because it is not the same in Ebonyi, Abia and Imo states respectively.
That it is only in Anambra and Enugu states that parliamentary workers are posted to the House of Assembly from the office of the Head of Service.
This according to the sources is what the Legislative Service Commission will address because the commission by law guarantees administrative autonomy: the power to recruit administrative staff for the legislature in accordance with the Anambra State Legislative Service Commission Law and in accordance with the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended.
They expressed deep concerns that the non-implementation of the legislative service commission law by the Soludo administration has resulted in many casualties amongst parliamentary staff as evident in the recent death of Tochukwu Ezekobe, who died from pressure of unpaid loan.
They were also worried that Governor Chukwuma Charles Soludo has constituted the Civil Service Commission and the Judicial Service Commission but his refusal to constitute the Legislative Service Commission is what they can not fathom. They said the need to constitute the commission is of strategic importance as it would address issues of peculiar allowances, outfit allowances and other lacunas in parliamentary services.
This journalist gathered that at the moment Anambra State pays only N1000 as outfit allowance to House of Assembly workers while no staff gets legislative duty allowance. That other four states of the Southeast pay all the special allowances of assembly workers including the legislative duty allowance but Anambra is zero and the state house of assembly is in comatose because there is apparently no administrative autonomy and no legislative autonomy.
It would be recalled that the Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria (PASSAN) had reached an agreement with governors in 2001 to grant the legislature financial autonomy which they failed and their failure led to two consecutive nationwide strike actions embarked upon by PASSAN.
Although sources further disclosed that while Anambra legislative staff still grappled with the constitution of legislative service commission and payment of special allowances, other states across the federation are currently demanding implementation of the Consolidated Legislative Salary Structure (CONLESS) which is the bone of contention in the current strike action.
Hence the Anambra State House of Assembly complex Awka was on Saturday 15th November, 2025 barricaded with various posters and placards suggesting that the workers have joined their counterparts nationwide to begin indefinite strike actions to press home their demands for the implementation of Consolidated Legislative Salary Structure (CONLESS) and better working conditions.
When contacted as at the time of writing this report, the Majority Leader of the 8th assembly and lawmaker representing Ekwusigo state constituency Hon. Ikenna Ofodeme, confirmed to this journalist that there is no autonomy whatsoever in the Anambra State House of Assembly.
Ofodeme said that the 8th assembly has passed the House of Assembly Legislative Service Commission Law and that for autonomy to exist, the commission must be in existence.
He said that it is only the commission that grants other aspects of autonomy. According to him, the staff of the House of Assembly are being managed by the Head of Service,who is working for the Executive arm of the government.
But he was of the opinion that when the full autonomy would come, the legislative service commission would be in charge of employing, determining salaries and other issues concerning House of Assembly workers in Anambra State.
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