Senators who didn’t secure re-election into the 10th National Assembly have started moving their personal belongings from their offices within the National Assembly complex.
Items such as television sets, refrigerators, air conditioners, water dispensers, microwaves, executive chairs, and rugs were spotted being moved out.
Security officials at the National Assembly that spoke with Premium Times confirmed the belongings were owned by senators who lost their re-election bids.
One official said, “Yes, those senators who are not returning own them (items). They will have to remove their personal belongings.”
The Director of Information of the National Assembly, Rawlings Agada, said that the items being moved could be the personal belongings the outgoing senators bought while in office.
Mr Agada noted there are protocols any outgoing lawmaker will have to follow before moving any items out of the National Assembly complex.
He said, “For them to have access to those items and be taken out of the National Assembly, that means they have taken the necessary security clearance, if not, any items that are not supposed to be among what they should take along will not be allowed.
“Whatever is in the office is going to be left there. Some of them will have to buy additional office equipment such as photocopying machines, water dispensers and all that, so they are not necessarily government properties that are being moved out. It may be their own personal items that they moved in with.
“Under the regulation of service, certain equipment is valued over a period of four years giving a depreciating value of the items. Those items are usually valued at the current depreciation rate. Serviceable vehicles of government and they are procedures for it.”
When asked whether the outgoing senators have been cleared by the national assembly to move those items out, Mr Ataga said they are expected to have been cleared.
Agada added, “They are expected, if those items, any item that is not made personal to them and not their personal item that was documented as been brought in by them, it cannot be taken out, without several clearances. Those processes must be met before they can reach the entire gate of the
“It is just like taking what does not belong to you. If you go to the market and pick somebody’s bread that is not your own, what does that mean? If you take government properties that are not your own, the general principle of the law will take its course.”
70% Of Lawmakers Not Re-elected
Senate President Ahmad Lawan recently mentioned that about 70% of senators and members of the House of Representatives were not re-elected.
He proposed that future high turnover could be mitigated by implementing capacity-building programmes for lawmakers.
