Judiciary Staff Union directs federal courts to join strike

By Ochiaka Ugwu

The Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) has directed all its members in federal courts to join the industrial action embarked upon by the union.

This was made known in a circular, signed by the National President, of the union, Mr. Marwan Adamu.

JUSUN said the action was taken after a meeting with the Minister of Labour and other stakeholders failed to resolve the impasse.

The federal courts include the Supreme Court, Court of Appeal, Federal High Courts and FCT High Courts.

It also directed its members in the FCT Sharia Court of Appeal, FCT Customary Court of Appeal, National Industrial Court, Federal Judicial Service Commission, National Judicial Council and the FCT Judicial

Service Commission to join in the strike.

It could be recalled that the members of the union embarked on an indefinite strike on Friday, July 11, after an emergency meeting of its National Executive Committee.

The meeting directed all state judiciary workers to embark on the industrial action to press home their demands.

It also advised its members in the federal judiciary to be on “alert” for further directives from JUSUN’s national secretariat on the dispute.

The strike began following the failure of state governments to implement an Abuja Federal High Court order on financial autonomy for state judiciaries.

Other demands were failure of stakeholders to abide by the decision to set up a technical implementation committee of the FAAC meeting of June 17.

A Federal High Court, headed by Justice Adeniyi Ademola, on January 14 restrained the Federal Government and the 36 state governors from holding on to funds meant for the judiciary.

Mr. Ademola ruled that funds meant for the judiciary should rather be disbursed directly to the heads of court and not to the executive arm of government.