By Nimi Princewill.
The outgoing Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki has instructed the National Assembly Management to disburse his severance package to the families of two humanitarian workers (Hussaini Ahmed Khoisan and Hauwa Liman) who were put to death by Boko Haram insurgents, and Leah Sharibu who is currently being held by the sect.
Senator Saraki also issued a directive to NASS management to set up a Trust Fund for children of late senators who might require financial aid to fund their education.
In a statement released by his media aide, Yusuph Olaniyonu, Saraki narrated that his resolve to support the families of Leah, Khoisan and Liman who are all victims of insurgency in the North, stemmed from the heart-touching nature of their case while being debated at plenary in the Eighth Senate.
On distribution of his allowance, he outlined the sharing formula.
He directed that “20 percent of the severance allowance is to be donated to the family of Leah Sharibu while 20 percent is also to be paid to the family of Hauwa Liman, the aid worker brutally murdered by Boko Haram after she was captured.
“Another 20 percent is to be donated to the family of the second aid worker, Hussaini Ahmed Khoisan, also murdered in the same circumstance by Boko Haram.
“The remaining 40 percent should be used by the National Assembly Management to set up a TRUST FUND that will assist children of deceased members of the Eighth Senate who are in financial need for their education.”
He advocated contribution from his colleagues to expand the impact of the Trust Fund.
“It is my hope that this TRUST FUND should grow with more contributions from my dear colleagues, present, past and future, who may be moved to put in additional money into it.
“The Clerk of the National Assembly will immediately get an official letter from me mandating him to act as stated above on the disbursement of my Severance Allowance”, he stated.