One Year of Impactful Leadership of Sani Magaji Tambuwal at National Assembly
BY ABUBAKAR YUSUF.
Alhaji Sani Magaji Tambuwal was appointed the Ag Clerk to National Assembly CNA in November, 2022 and was later confirmed as substantive CNA in March, 2023.
This was to pave way for the former leadership under Arch. Olatunde Ojo to observe his statutory and terminal leave while preparing to bid the service farewell as part of his entitlements.
Before then, the new CNA was in charge of Finance and Accounts of the National Assembly as Secretary, until his appointment to the top job to manage the affairs of the National Assembly.
Tambuwal met with series of challenges among many others which included staff welfare, low morale, lack of staff development, agitation for minimum wage among many others that had threatened to cripple the activities of the National Assembly on many occasions.
While in Acting capacity, he articulated the problems and designed a lasting solution that will militate against the smooth operation of the 9th Assembly, that was wounding down and preparing for a new 10th Assembly.
Having acquainted himself with the challenges and prospects, Tambuwal initiated a peace meeting that led to the payment of the National minimum wage to staff and agitated legislative aides, including arrears that doused the persistent tension in the Assembly during the immediate past leadership.
He also offset the welfare packages of staff of the National Assembly and set in motion the machinery to authenticate the veracity or otherwise of the claims of legislative aides of the 9th Assembly on the issue of salary arrears, that had led to series of threatened showdown.
Few months into his leadership, he resolved all lingering issues that was labour and salary related and returned the atmosphere of the Assembly to complete equanimity.
Magaji Tambuwal who was also confronted with the exit of the 9th Assembly members paid off the severance packages without delay for the lawmakers at both the red and green chamber, a situation that lingers in the previous administration.
Matching words with actions, he commenced without further delay similar payment to the legislative aides of the same Assembly, to pave way for the smooth take of the 10th Assembly in June , 2023.
The Clerk to the National Assembly CNA also supervised the massive renovation of the chambers of the National Assembly been carried out by the Federal Capital Development Authority FCDA, along with other ongoing projects of the Assembly which included the new Assembly library to conclusion.
He also created an enabling environment to welcome the new members of the 10th Assembly with majority of them new and few of them returning as a result of the verdict of the 2023 general elections, that led to the election of members of the National Assembly spread across APC, PDP, NNPP, LP, SDP and APGA, unlike the previous Assembly when two or three political parties dominated the Assembly.
With the expansion of scope of management of the National Assembly, particularly the influx of new members from other political parties, the need to provide more robust services, capacity building, and orientation to the new members of the Assembly became germane.
Tambuwal organised an orientation program spanned for days to enable new and returning members of the 10th National Assembly acclimatize, acquaint and refresh on the code of conduct of the National Assembly.
Along with his management, he ensured the uninterrupted assumption of duty of the new members of the 10th Assembly, and settled down for the business of lawmaking, plenary, oversights, ad-hoc sessions and clearing of appointees of the executive arm of government from Ministers to Heads of Departments, Ministries and Agencies along with Chairmen and Members of Boards.
Soon after the removal of subsidy and the need to cushion the effects, he implemented the palliative measures introduced by the federal government as salary wages and created an enabling environment for staff of the National Assembly, with the purchase of high capacity buses to replace the old and unserviceable ones to reduce the sufferings of members of staff coming in from the six area councils including the city center.
Aside welfare packages, Tambuwal implemented promotions of staff of the National Assembly and ensured payment of all entitlements to the new status of staff cut across all departments.
To crown it up, he proposed the review of retirement age for NASS staff that had gotten the consent of both chambers and waiting for the presidential assent, that will be beneficial to the members of staff of the National Assembly, the lawmakers and the entire country.
The proposed review of service year will also resolve the dearth of experienced hands and erosion of needed human resources been churned out on yearly basis by the over three decades National Assembly through premature retirements.
It will also pave way for engagement of both fresh and more hands that will be trained and acquainted with the intricacies on the job by the old staffers.
The political and administrative will by the current leadership under Sani Magaji Tambuwal will go down in the anals of the history of the current management of the National Assembly.
For now, the current leadership needed the massive supports of staff and the general public to ensure the smooth operation of both management and leadership of the National Assembly.
Written BY ABUBAKAR YUSUF and can be reached on yus.abubakar3@gmail.com.
