Saraki and Dogara obtain injunction forcing National Assembly staff to call off their strike

SENATE president Senator Bukola Saraki and the speaker of the House of Representatives Hon Yakubu Dogara have taken legal action against striking workers at the National Assembly obtaining an injunction forcing them to call off their industrial action.

On Tuesday, the Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria (Pasan) announced a four-day strike to protest the non-payment of salaries and arrears to its members working in the National Assembly. Nigerian legislators are among the highest paid in the world, with senators entitled to monthly expenses of N13.5m ($37,500) in addition to their monthly salaries of more than $2,000.

Annually, Nigerian senators take home about $55,000 a year, while members of the House of Representatives earn about $42,000. Despite this, National Assembly staff remain unpaid and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), has attributed this to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leaders with Senator Saraki and Hon Dogara, who head the senate and the House of Representatives, who they claim paid themselves all their due allowances but showed little care for the staff members.

However, the PDP leaders claim that the problem stems for the non-remittance of funds by the finance ministry, which means the National Assembly leaders have no access to money to pay the workers. Deciding to act on the matter, Senator Saraki and Hon Dogara, got an ex-parte motion issued by the National Industrial Court of Nigeria in Abuja, restraining the Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria (Pasan) from continuing with the strike.

The order of interim injunction, issued on December 18, directed the leadership of Pasan and their agents to refrain from proceeding on strike. Since Monday, Pasan has embarked on a four-day warning strike over unpaid allowances said to add up to N2.7bn.

“An order of interim injunction restraining all the defendants /respondents, particularly their agents, provides, servants, however called from taking steps to proceed or proceeding on strike, pending the determination of the motion.  An interim injunction restraining Pasan their agents, privies, servants from giving directives to their members to proceed or proceeding on strike,” the court injunction read.