The Clerk to the National Assembly (CNA), Barrister Kamoru Ogunlana, declared Tuesday, that the National Assembly on a daily basis houses over 14,000 workforce,  comprising career civil servants and legislative aides.

The CNA, who gave the statistics in his speech at the last phase of Capacity-Building Training for  Legislative Aides in the 10th National Assembly, said the over 14, 000 workforce is not inclusive of the 469 federal lawmakers and crowd of visitors who visit them daily, making the Nigeria parliament the busiest in the world.

This is even as he reiterated the need for a special salary scale for the legislative aides who, according to him, are a critical component of the engine room of legislation.

“No parliament in the world is as busy as the National Assembly which houses over 14, 000 personnel aside from the federal legislators and their visitors which made the job of its Clerk to be the most demanding in terms of administrative coordination.

“Within the last three years of the 10th Assembly, a total of 3,500 bills have been passed by both Chambers, 1,500 by the Senate and 2,000 by the House of Representatives,” he said.

Apparently worried that his call for special salary scale for legislative aides last year has not been looked into by relevant authorities, the CNA reiterated the call by specifically calling on the National Assembly Service Commission (NASC) and the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) to do the needful.

He said: “There is need to streamline the responsibility of the NASC and RMAFC in determining the salaries and conditions of service of legislative aides. 

“NASC is the institutional authority responsible for the appointment and administration of Legislative Aides, while the remuneration structure operates within the framework developed/approved with RMAFC and is subject to approval by the National Assembly 

“It is settled that the appointment of Legislative Aides is temporary and non-pensionable, but is it a full time or part-time appointment?

“These reforms are aimed not only at improving the welfare of Legislative Aides, but also to strengthen their capacity to provide support to their principals. 

“Whatever reform we undertake, the goal should remain the development of a professional legislative support service that attracts and retains the best and brightest minds, as well as individuals of exemplary character and moral probity.”