Akpabio Laments Over Hoodlums taking over National Assembly

Senate President Godswill Akpabio has expressed concern over the influx of hoodlums into the National Assembly complex maintaining that lawmakers now feel threatened by their presence.

The Senate President raised concerns that as the National Assembly settles down for legislative activities, “hoodlums and people who do not have any business in the premises” loiter all over the Senate and Reps wings, “begging and constituting a security breach” against lawmakers and staff of the National Assembly.

Akpabio raised the alarm while hosting members of the National Assembly Service Commission (NASC), who paid a courtesy visit on Friday.

The Senate President’s complaints followed remarks by NASC chairman, Ahmed Kadi Amshi, who presented the challenges faced by the commission and other issues to him.

In reaction to the issues of staff allowances raised by the commission’s chairman, the senate president declared that he was aware of enormous resources channelled towards staff comfort, adding that everything was not about the welfare of staff.

Decrying the infrastructural decay, filthiness and insecurity at the complex, Akpabio pointed out that lawmakers lost their telephones and other valuables to hoodlums who positioned themselves strategically in front of offices and the NASS.

Akpabio further lamented the infrastructural rot and untidy environment in which the 10th Assembly members operate.