By Shehu Umar Tama & Asmau A. Baike
Exactly one year ago, he was saddled with the responsibility of being the Chief Accounting Officer of the National Assembly. Being a professional accountant, it was a little shift away from his career of managing money to managing both men and resources, not just the regular career men, but the men who make the laws of the land and the men who work with the men who make the law.
Though he was in acting capacity until his appointment was confirmed in March 2023, the Clerk to the National Assembly, Alhaji Sani Magaji Tambawal, who epitomizes forthrightness and dedication had hit the ground running as soon as he was named Acting Clerk.
His immense knowledge and understanding of the financial arrangements and process of the National Assembly, his prudent management of resources and financial discipline are of immense advantage of the institution and its staff.
Topmost on his priority list was the staff welfare. Even before he attained the position of the CNA, Alhaji Magaji Tambawal has been taking firm positions in support of staff members’ welfare and benefits. Just as it was predicted at his assumption of office that he will make good efforts to fine tune and attend to most of the financial issues plaguing the management staff of National Assembly as well as the Legislative Aides, he has not fallen short of the expectation.
Many backlog of promotion arrears were cleared while the newly promoted staff were promptly paid their benefits. The outgoing legislative aides received full payments of their entitlements, previously withheld allowances and increments of staff were paid up and the recent N35,000 Federal Government intervention palliative dropped in the account of staff without hassles.
Aside from the financial aspect, the CNA took up the challenge of training and retraining of staff with full rigours. He had stated while declaring the first of the series of training open that training remains the critical tool for development and promotion of organizational growth and superlative solution for closing the capacity gaps that the National Assembly Management identified in its assessments of all the Directorates, stressing that the improved workforce combined with institutional structures, tools and a staff friendly welfare system was needed to catapult the National Assembly to the enviable height.
As he stated in the address he presented during one of the first of many training events organized for staff of National Assembly, “the National Assembly Management is cognizant of the fact that the industrial harmony is not the absence of discord but the presence of mutual understanding between the employers and employees that allow the system to attain its defined goals”.
He further declared that the National Assembly leadership was working round the clock to institute the right ambience and organizational culture to meet the diverse needs, expectations and secure the finest quality of staff service.
In less than a year of making this statement, the Clerk has not reneged on his promise, rather he has made truth his word by living up to the expectations of the staff.
Among the trainings recorded within one year of his attaining office are: trainings on Re-orientation for Improved Productivity and Effective Service Delivery for Staff of National Assembly held in Utako, which is being carried out in batches for all staff of the National Assembly. This is one of the many capacity building programmes for staff aimed at improving the requisite skills of both junior and senior staff of the National Assembly for greater service delivery.
Other of such trainings carried out in recent times also include: Two week training programme for Sergeant At Arms at the National Institute for Security Studies, Bwari Abuja; A 5-DAY Collaborative Training Programme Organised by Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies and the National Assembly which was held in august 2023, at Dover Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos; Capacity building training for the Directorate Cadre of the National Assembly in November, 2023 at Ibom Icon Hotel and Golf Resort, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, among others.
Born on 2nd February 1965, Tambawal who holds a BSc in mathematics joined the National Assembly in 1992, following his transfer of service as a Budget Officer from the Sokoto State House of Assembly.
Being an astute administrator, budget and financial Controller, he rose through the ranks to become Director of Budget Department in 2017 before he was appointed Permanent Secretary, (Finance and Account Directorate) of the National Assembly in 2020.
The announcement by the National Assembly Service Commission on November 18, 2022 appointing Alhaji Tambawal as Acting CNA was greeted with much jubilation among the staff, based on the previous knowledge they have about his pragmatic leadership. Having succeeded in the Acting capacity he made a date with destiny after a substantive appointment as the CNA was given to him three months later in March 2023.
