Corps members serve as tea girls, boys at N’Assembly

Some National Youth Service Corps members serving at the National Assembly have decried the shabby way they are treated by members of the legislature.

Findings by SUNDAY PUNCH on Saturday showed that the corps members were disappointed after discovering that serving at the Assembly was neither rosy nor challenging, contrary to their expectations.

A male corps member who expressed anger over the development, told our correspondent that members of committees had little regard for them.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said, “Many of us here are attached to committees but there isn’t much to do. The committees hardly allow us to carry out any serious assignments; officials just treat us like errand boys.

“They seize the slightest opportunity to shout at us during committee assignments. It can get really embarrassing.”

Findings by our correspondent showed that the National Assembly, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Central Bank of Nigeria and commercial banks topped the list of “lucrative and challenging” institutions corps members posted to Abuja prefer to serve in.

An aide to a legislator, who did not want his name mentioned, told SUNDAY PUNCH that the reason why some corp members want to serve at the National Assembly was because of the opportunity to work directly as aides to Senators or members of the House.

“The disappointment sets in when they find out that the place offers no more than serving in committees and departments already congested by civil servants on the payroll of the National Assembly.

“In the committees, they will be largely redundant except during meetings when they can serve tea, kola nuts or sweets,” he said.

It was learnt that the hope of the fresh graduates to serve as legislative aides to senators or representatives was dashed in most cases because the lawmakers had given out such jobs to their relatives or friends.

But the National Assembly’s Director of Information and Publications, Mr. Monima Daminabo, dismissed the claim of maltreatment of corps members.

“The civil service is a disciplined and rule-guided system. Most of them came in largely untrained in the working of the parliament; so they need the assistance of superior officers to put them through. We have no tradition of discrimination in the National Assembly.

“Also, the authorities of the NYSC that posted them here have never reported to us that they received complaints from their corps members. So, if such cases exist, the authorities of the NYSC should know,” he said.

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