Stories by Bode Olagoke
Apparently worried by the thin number of the delegates presently attending plenary at the ongoing National Conference, the leadership of the conference has announced that as from next Monday it would stop payment of any form of allowances to the absentee delegates.
The Secretariat explained that the federal government was worried that more than 50% of delegates no longer turn up for plenary, adding that except on health ground that it would pay any delegate who refused to show up at plenary.
Blueprint earlier this week had reported the drastic reduction in the the number of conference delegates attending the meeting.
While informing delegates of the decision yesterday, Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi lamented that more than half of the seats at the Conference were empty, saying that government was worried that 50 percent of delegates don’t turn up for plenary.
He said, “They are reminding us that when members of an intervention agency are being paid sitting allowances, they should sit. We are considering not paying allowances to those, who do not turn up for plenary. We don’t want to be pushed to a situation where we treat esteemed delegates like secondary school students.”
“We don’t want it to get to that. We are all very responsible people and we should show that here. With effect from Monday, delegates who don’t show up will not be paid sitting allowance except on health reasons and that should have been communicated to us” Justice Kutigi warned.
Blueprint observed that majority of youth delegates, politicians and some businessmen among the the delegates had stopped participating since the conference resumed from committee level while they continue enjoying all the normal allowances.
