Aides to Confab delegates insist on protest over allowances

The aides want to be paid by the federal government.
Some aides and drivers of the delegates to the National Conference have vowed to go ahead with their planned protest on Monday despite explanation by the conference secretariat that there was no budgetary provision for their allowances.
They explained in a statement in Abuja that the allegation that they would disrupt the Confab’s proceeding during the protest was not true and that their request to government for allowances to assuage their sufferings and the planned protest were “legitimate and unequivocal.”
“We have therefore issued this statement to clarify these issues,” they said in the letter by their chairman, who did not disclose his name.
“We have attached herewith scanned copies of our correspondences with the Conference management, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Police authorities and the Presidency on the subject for your evaluation.
“These letters are attached to enable you draw reasonable conclusions to absolve the Forum of any wrong doing concerning the issue of plans to disrupt the Conference and to appropriately evaluate the moral questions raised by the refusal to pay allowances to aides and drivers of delegates at the National Conference.”
The delegates’ aides under the aegis of Forum of Aides and Drivers of National Conference 2014 Delegates had on April 8 written the Confab leadership requesting it to consult the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation “to approve allowances for duty tour, feeding and logistics expenses reimbursement to cushion the consequential effects of changes in our usual location and work schedules and to appropriately provide a conducive environment for us to continue to dutifully serve in the course of this onerous national assignment.”
The letter was signed by six of the members of the Forum, representing the six geo-political zones in the country. They are Hyginus Oshioke, Ephraim Mathias, Hindi Daniel, Out Effiong, Adeniyi Adeola and Jacob Paul.
In another letter dated April 28, which was also sent to the President Goodluck Jonathan and the SGF, Pius Anyim, the forum said “neglecting to approve and pay allowances to us will appear as an attempt to use us and dump us, a practice which is not in line with the character of the present administration which seeks to ensure that the youth of this nation have the opportunity to participate in national development.”
But in its reply dated May 12, the Confab leadership said it could not accede to their request because no provision was made for such expenses in the Conference’s budget.
“I am constrained to inform your Forum that the Secretariat of the National Conference will not be able to assist in this regard as there is no budgetary provision to accommodate such expenses,” the letter signed by the Secretary, Valerie Azinge, said.
“While thanking you in anticipation of your understanding, please accept the assurances of the warm regards of the Chairman of the National Conference.”
On May 16, the forum dispatched another letter to the Conference leadership and Mr. Anyim. In the letter, it asked them to consider the plight of its members, which it put at 900 drawn from all the zones.
Worried about the development, the forum sent a letter to the FCT Commissioner of Police, saying it had resolved to hold a peaceful protest march on June 2 “to draw the attention to the lack of provision for our welfare and call on government to assuage our plight, hence this notification.”
The forum said in the letter dated May 19 that it had had correspondences with the management of the conference as well as the office of the SGF to pay them allowances to assuage their sufferings to no avail.
However, it sent another letter dated May 22 to the SGF reminding him of their request.
The Conference, which began on March 17, was billed to end in June. However, the Conference Chairman, Idris Kutigi, announced last week that the Federal Government had approved its extension by four weeks. This means the Conference will now end on July 17.
Each of the 492 delegates earns N2.92 million monthly.