Loan Pressure, Poor Welfare: Pushing Anambra Assembly Workers To Breaking Point
By Sunny A. David, Awka
What began as quiet frustration inside the Anambra State House of Assembly has spiralled into a humanitarian crisis, one marked by crippling poverty, staff deaths and a workforce now pushed into an indefinite nationwide strike.
The most heartbreaking case is that of Tochukwu Ezekobe, a Publications Department staff member who reportedly took a loan to pay her school fees but came under intense pressure when she could not repay. She died shortly after receiving a query, under circumstances colleagues describe as “mysterious” and deeply distressing.
Her death follows that of another staff member, Christiana Amasiani, whose decomposing body was found days after she passed.
Workers say three colleagues have died this year alone, all linked, they believe, to the harsh economic strain and absence of welfare.
Inside sources paint a grim picture: about 85% of Assembly staff depend on loans to survive, with many taking home as little as ₦7,000 after deductions. “People are starving. People are breaking down. We are dying slowly,” one staff member said.
Workers accuse the State government of failing to implement the Consolidated Legislative Salary Structure (CONLESS), pay statutory allowances, or establish the Legislative Service Commission, which would grant the Assembly true administrative autonomy.
They lament that the Assembly still operates under the Office of the Head of Service, a practice they say exists only in Anambra and Enugu.
The result, they argue, is a legislature “in a state of coma.”
On Saturday, November 15, the Assembly complex was barricaded as staff joined the nationwide PASSAN strike, demanding autonomy and welfare reforms long overdue.
Confirming the workers’ claims, Majority Leader Hon. Ikenna Ofodeme admitted the Assembly lacks autonomy, explaining that the executive must constitute the Legislative Service Commission before any meaningful reform can take place.
For now, staff say they have no choice but to continue their strike, until the State finally honours longstanding agreements and addresses the conditions they warn are costing lives.
