National President, Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria, Marwan Adamu

Nothing will stop the judiciary workers from embarking on their nationwide strike starting from Monday (today), the President of the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria, Adamu Marwa, told The PUNCH, on Sunday.

It means all levels of court up to the Supreme Court along with other judiciary institutions such as the National Judicial Council, Federal Judicial Service Commission and the National Judicial Institute, will all be shut as from Monday (today).

The strike, according to the union, will be indefinite and will not be suspended until its demand for the implementation of the January 13, 2014 judgment of a Federal High Court in Abuja is met.

In line with the court judgment, the Accountant-General of the Federation is to make deductions of the amount standing to the credit of states’ judiciary in the Consolidated Revenue Fund and remit it to the National Judicial Council which will then disburse same to the various heads of court.

JUSUN said it would resume strike because various stakeholders had flouted the Memorandum of Understanding in which it was agreed that the financial autonomy of the judiciary as ordered by the court would be given effect from December 2014.

The MoU signed by various parties on November 27, 2014 meeting, stipulated that as from the next Federal Accounts Allocation Committee meeting, the judgment would be implemented.

The court had in July 2014 embarked on three weeks strike which was suspended after stakeholders promised to ensure that the union’s demands were met.

The discussions with the union culminated in the MoU which the stakeholders and the union reached in November 2014.

The terms of the MoU were due for implementation in December 2014.

Speaking with our correspondent on Sunday, Adamu said none of the stakeholders involved in the MoU had contacted the union since the strike threat was issued.

“But what can they do even if they contacted us? What we are asking for is the implementation of the MoU,” he said.

He gave the same response, when asked what role the Nigerian Bar Association had been playing to avert the strike.

“We have not heard from them. The other time when we went on strike they played a major role, but we have not heard from them this time. But there is really nothing they can do without the implementation of the judgement,” the JUSUN boss said.

He added, “No going back on the strike.”

Attempts to reach the NBA President, Mr. Augustine Alegeh (SAN), on Sunday was futile as he neither answered our correspondent’s calls nor respond to a text message inquiring about the efforts made by his association to avert the strike.

The meeting where the MoU was agreed upon had held at the instance of the Supervising Minister of Labour and Productivity, Kabir Turaki, was attended by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity, O.C Illoh, Accountant General of the Federation, Mr. Jonah Otunla, representatives of the National Judicial Council, the Federal Judicial Service Commission and the Federal Ministry of Finance.

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