Many staff of the National Assembly yesterday failed to show up at work despite the expiration of the 2-day Christmas break given by the federal government.
The government had announced December 25 and
26 as public holiday for the Christmas celebrations, while January 1,
2019 would be for New Year break.
Civil servants and private workers were expected to resume work yesterday being December 27.
Our correspondent who was at the National Assembly premises from morning to afternoon yesterday observed that only few staff and security men were present at work.
Some policemen, personnel of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), men of the sergeant-at-arms as well as officers of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) were seen performing their functions.
There were also other support staff such as cleaners, bankers, journalists, among others that were seen at the National Assembly premises.
It was further observed that even the few civil servants that turned up for work left the premises of the National Assembly before close of work.
109 senators and 360 members of the House of Representatives had on December 20 embarked on about one-month Christmas and New Year break to resume on January 16.
However, the lawmakers’ break does not affect the civil servants working at the federal legislature. The National Assembly boasts of about 3,000 civil servants, but only few of them were sighted at work yesterday.
A staff said that most of the staff have travelled out of Abuja and that they might not return until January, when the lawmakers are expected to resume.
Attempts to get the Director of Information at the National Assembly, Mr Rawlings Emmanuel Agada, to react to the development failed as he could not be reached on phone.
