Exclusive, Top Stories, Photo News, Articles & Opinions
 
Open Letter To The National Assembly Service Commission (NASC)

 

OPEN LETTER TO THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY SERVICE COMMISSION (NASC)

August 25, 2008
 
The Chairman,
National Assembly Service Commission (NASC),
Federal Secretariat Complex,
Abuja.
 
Dear Sir, Open Letter to the National Assembly Service Commission (NASC)

Re: Press Release on service records of Alhaji Nasiru Arab; Clerk to the National Assembly (CNA: Setting the records Straight

On Friday August 1, 2008, the National Assembly Service Commission (NASC) published advertorials in some newspapers in which it reacted to reports in the media which indicate that the Clerk to the National Assembly, (CNA), the administrative head of that institution, Alhaji Nasiru Arab has falsified his service records to prolong his years of service at the helm of the National Assembly bureaucracy.

The Commission, which rose in defence of Arab in the advertorials stated thus: “ From the records available to the Commission, Alhaji Nasiru Arab born on 12th January 1950 joined the service as Master Grade III, SGL 07 with effect from 02/06 1975 on a permanent and pensionable appointment with the Kaduna State Ministry of Education. And he transferred his service to the National Assembly as an Assistant Director with effect from 13/12/1990.

advertisement

“In view of the foregoing, the position of the Commission with regard to this issue is that the officer will be due to retire on 12/ 01/2010 on account of age when he would have attained 60 years.”

We are assured that our initial comments and the letters we have copied to the relevant authorities on the forgery allegations against Alhaji Arab drew out the Commission and indeed gingered them to issue the Press Release in defence of the Clerk.

But after our initial comments and the Press Conference we held in Abuja on July 8, 2008 on this matter, we have taken pains to dig further into the matter and the Nigerian public has been witnesses to the series of publications we have made in that regard to set the records straight.

We have published documents to show that the allegations against Arab are not mere rumour. Documents have clearly shown that Alhaji Arab was indeed due for retirement as far back as 2007.  We have published the Curriculum Vitae (CV) of Alhaji Nasiru Arab, which he duly signed and which indicates clearly that he started work as a Primary School teacher in Kaduna state in 1972. The CV is part of the documents Alhaji Nasiru Arab submitted to the Commission in 2005, shortly before he was confirmed the substantive (CNA) to replace Alhaji Ibrahim Salim who retired from service.  The CV clearly confirms that Alhaji Arab was due for retirement in 2007.
       
We have also published a copy of Alhaji Arab’s profile as published on the National Assembly website www.nassnig.org) as at May 25, 2008. Though the profile was immediately withdrawn following the publication of the forgery allegations in the media, it was stated clearly that Alhaji Nasiru Arab joined the service of Kaduna state government in 1972, which further confirms the fact that he was due for retirement in 2007 contrary to the claims in the Press Release by the National Assembly Service Commission.

Besides that, we have taken the pains to also publish as advertorials, copies of the Legislative Bulletin, a publication of the Policy Analysis and Research Project (PARP), the research arm of the National Assembly which exposed Arab’s records in the first place in its publication of April 15, 2008(Vol. 1 No. 4 at Page 10). We also published as advertorial the Erratum which was carried by the Legislative Bulletin following the discovery that its edition of April 15, 2008 had exposed Arab’s records.

The Erratum, which is contained in the Bulletin’s edition of May 15, 2008 (Vol.1 No.6 at page 7), however confirmed that Alhaji Nasiru Arab was engaged as a temporary worker in Kaduna state in 1972. It is curious Sir, that the Press Release published by the National Assembly Service Commission on August 1 completely ignored the claim that Arab was ever engaged as a temporary worker in Kaduna state in 1972. We see this as a clear attempt to subvert the provisions of the Pensions Act 1974, which are very clear on engagements as a temporary/permanent or unestablished jobs.
       
The position of the law as stated in the Pensions Act 1974 is unambiguous. SECTION 13 OF PENSIONS ACT CAP 346 OF APRIL 1, 1974 READS:  “WHERE AN OFFICER HOLDING AN UNESTABLISHED, A TEMPORARY OR CONTRACT APPOINTMENT TRANSFERS TO A PERMANENT ONE, THE PERIOD DURING WHICH HE WAS ON SUCH UNESTABLISHED, TEMPORARY OR CONTRACT APPOINTMENT SHALL COUNT IN FULL AS QUALIFYING SERVICE.”

We are worried, Sir, that the Commission is seeking to overlook the provisions of the law of the land in an attempt to perpetrate illegality. This is very scary and dangerous as the Clerk to the National Assembly is not only presumed as a man or woman of integrity, but one whose signature alongside that of the President and Commander-in-Chief appear on the laws of the Land. No nation can afford to place a man of questionable character on a seat that demands so much responsibility. That is what drew our curiosity in the first place.

advertisement

Now that we have provided the missing links in the service records of Alhaji Nasiru Arab and with records available now confirming that he was due for retirement in 2007, we demand the Commission to act appropriately and ask him to proceed on retirement without delay. Any further delay by the Commission will be termed by us as an act of cowardice and an attempt to turn the law on its head. Suffice it to say that we are prepared to meet any such attempt with stiff legal resistance that it demands.   
       
To continue to watch by the sidelines is to throw our nation to the dogs. Clearly, available records have shown that the continued stay in office of Alhaji Nasiru Arab as the Clerk to the National Assembly is an aberration. Records made available to the public have shown that he was due for retirement as the Clerk in 2007. He cannot continue to be a menace to the Laws of Nigeria and the Nigerian Parliament.


Yours in the service to humanity,
 
 
Comrade Chidi Nwosu
President
Human Rights, Justice and Peace Foundation (HRJPF)
93, Market Road, first floor, back
Aba, Abia State, Nigeria
E-mail: hrjpfoundation@yahoo.com, chidicdy2k@yahoo.com, comrade_71@yahoo.com
Tel: 234 803 505 6312

-------------------------------------------------------------

You got News for us, give us a tip at: newstip@pointblanknews.com. We treat them confidential as we investigate!

 

International Media
Nigeria Newspapers
Media Partners
Advertisement
Contact Us
Jackson Ude (publisher)
Phone No: (347) - 323 - 1693
Churchill Umoren (editor)
Phone No: (267) - 902 - 1923
Oladimeji Abitogun (managing editor)
Phone No: (913) - 384 - 2454
Advertisement
© Copyright of pointblanknews.com. All Rights Reserved.