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.
“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.
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