There was indication that the court rooms across the country will remain shut until next week.

Vanguard gathered that the officials of the striking workers under the umbrella of Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria, JUSUN, have vowed to put the gates of the courts in the country under locks and key until their demands are met.

The workers’ strike action entered the 10th day yesterday. The workers had embarked on the strike to protest the refusal of the executive arm of government at the federal and state levels to implement a judgment of Justice Adeniyi Ademola of a federal high court, Abuja which granted financial autonomy to the judiciary on January 13, 2014.

Already, a meeting between the workers and the government representatives has been fixed tentatively for the weekend, where it is expected that both party will resolve all disagreements between them.

A visit to the headquaters of the High Court of Lagos State, Ikeja and the Lagos division, Igbosere and the Appeal Court and the Federal High Court revealed that all gates to the premises are under locks and key.

Several litigants who were in court with the hope that there will be positive development left dejected.

There were posters pasted on the gates with the inscription, “the courts are on strike.”

In line with the court judgment, the Accountant-General of the Federation is expected to make deductions from the consolidated fund and transfer the amount standing to the credit of states’ judiciary to the National Judicial Council which will then disburse same to the various heads of court.

JUSUN said various stakeholders, including the accountant general of the federation, AGF, states’ accountants general, and commissioners of finance among others, had flouted the Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, signed by all the parties on November 27, 2014.

The MoU, directed the AGF to deduct directly from the allocation to states’ judiciary at the last Federation Account Allocation Committee, FAAC, meeting in December.

JUSUN president, Mawan Adamu said in Abuja on Monday that they would not go back on the strike and that the industrial action would continue until the judgment of the court is respected.

Meanwhile, some lawyers have condemned the closure of the gates to the court premises.

According to them, it is unheard of, since there are several people who used the court apart from the striking officials.

A former president of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mr J.B. Dawodu said the step taken by the workers is criminal in nature since their action will affect so many people whose fundamental rights are being infringed.

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