President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, has reportedly denied having over 100 aides attached to his office.
Sources in the Senate who made this known said the Senate president has been an advocate to cut down cost opf governance.
The source explained that the not less than 100 aides working for the senate president were staff of the National Assembly Management who were deployed in the Office of the President of the Senate.
The Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the Senate President, Yusuph Olaniyonu, told journalists in Abuja that those disengaged were not aides inherited from a former Senate President, David Mark.
Olaniyonu who explained the development, said the measure was part of Saraki’s restructuring agenda.
He said: “I am here to discuss this issue of restructuring in the office of the Senate President. Some of our colleagues called me to clarify what happened.
“It is has been known since four months ago that a comprehensive staff review exercise was going on in the office of the Senate President. It was just concluded a few days ago and the purpose of the exercise is to reposition the office to improve on service delivery and improve on his ability to deliver on the agenda of the 8th Senate.
“We have served for two years and this is a long time enough to determine who is good enough to continue in the last phase of the service. You know the Senate has just about 22 months to its expiration.
“It is an exercise that has now been concluded and we can determine who is good enough to continue, who needs to give way and who may likely come in.
“So at the end of the day, decisions have been taken on three sides. There are some members of staff who by their performance in the last two years have been deemed fit to continue and those ones are still there.
“There is also a second category of people who were seconded from the National Assembly Service Commission to the office of the Senate President and in this exercise some of them were told to revert back to bureaucracy where they were from the beginning.
“Then there is a third set who have been removed obviously maybe because they were found not to have met the expectation of their offices or who are not helping enough in the function of the office.
“So you see that actually it is a positive one not a punitive measure. It was meant to re position the office.
“That is the summary of the whole exercise and it is possible that a new set of people will be joining the exercise.
“I don’t have the detail on the number of persons affected, those retained and those likely to be recruited. I may have to revert back to you on the specifics you are asking for. I am just addressing the general principles of what has happened.”
