Senator Appoints 280 Aides, plan Payment Of N25million Salaries Monthly
The senator made this known while distributing palliatives and skill acquisition equipment worth over N500 million to his constituents trained in direct vacations, at the Oleh township stadium, headquarters of in Isoko South Local Government Area of the state.
Joel-Onowakpo Thomas, the senator representing Delta South senatorial district of Delta State in the National Assembly has given reasons for his recent appointment of 280 aides from across the wards.
The senator made this known while distributing palliatives and skill acquisition equipment worth over N500 million to his constituents trained in direct vacations, at the Oleh township stadium, headquarters of in Isoko South Local Government Area of the state.
He stated that he spent over N25 million monthly to pay salaries of the 280 aides to enable him effectively represent the senatorial district and fulfill his constitutional obligations in the national Assembly.
“We have appointed 280 persons ranging from Senior Special Advisers, Senior Advisers, Special Assistants and Technical Assistants cutting across all the wards of the Senatorial District for which we pay over N25 million monthly. The main reason for this is to open up governance to as many people as possible in the senatorial district and they have my mandate to interface with ministries, departments and agencies of government on my behalf to perform my constitutional oversight functions.
“And I urge those who have been appointed to take advantage of it and do that oversight functions because it is mandatory and constitutional. This is our fifth empowerment since I assumed office 18 months ago. This has become necessary because of the prevailing economic hardship occasioned by the reforms by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to right the wrongs of many years of decay of the economy and reposition our country for greatness.
“It is worthy to note that I was elected your senator in February 28, 2023 and finally confirmed as your senator after a protracted litigation that ended in November, 2023 and I have officially occupied this mandate for 18 months. What we are doing today is parts of the President Bola Tinubu’s ‘Renewed Hope Agenda’ of empowering and alleviating the sufferings of Nigerians. I must thank and commend President Tinubu’s efforts towards revamping economy.
“Within the same period, we have influenced over 23 projects, some have been completed while others are at various stages of implementation. I want to remind us that I am not occupying an executive office but a legislator and all these have been possible because our president understands your plight and made Constituency projects available to the National Assembly.
“I align myself with the President of the Senate who emphasized the importance of Constituency projects to Mr President in his budget speech. Constituency projects are not new to Nigerians because it is the only way legislators can compliment the effort of the executive in meeting the yearnings and aspirations of our Constituents. I want to assure you that with the renewed hope of Mr President, more will be done in the coming days to reduce the suffering of people as a result of the ongoing reforms,” Joel-Onowakpo stated.
