Judiciary workers decide on strike Sunday

After three days of marathon meetings of stakeholders with officers of the striking Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria, the National Executive Council of the union will meet on Sunday to decide on whether or not to continue its industrial action.

The union’s NEC meeting is to take place at the Supreme Court by 2pm on Sunday.

JUSUN’s nationwide strike, which has grounded the entire judiciary arms of government at all levels, started on January 5, 2015.

The executive council of JUSUN took the decision to convene a NEC meeting on Wednesday after meeting with the leadership of the Nigerian Bar Association, the forum of Chief Registrars of various courts in the country, the body of the state Attorneys-General among others.

President of the NBA, Mr. Augustine Alegeh (SAN), was said to have presided over the meeting.

The NBA president, the state Attorneys-General and other stakeholders are expected to reconvene for another meeting on January 26 by 12pm to receive briefing on the decision of the JUSUN’s NEC.

JUSUN’s National Public Relation Officer, Kayode Igbarago, told our correspondent  on Wednesday that if the NEC was disposed to suspending or calling off the strike it would be announced formally on Monday after the meeting with the stakeholders.

It was learnt that the union’s decision to convene a NEC meeting came in the light of explanations by government that the Accountant-General of the Federation lacked the power to deduct money from the Federation Account as ordered in the judgment which JUSUN is agitating for its implementation.

The said judgment delivered by Justice Adeniyi Ademola of a Federal High Court in Abuja on January 13, 2014, affirmed the financial autonomy status of the judiciary and abolished its piecemeal funding by the executive.

The court ordered  the Accountant-General of the Federation to be deducting funds standing to the credit of the judiciary in the Federation Account and be remitting it directly to the various heads of court.

Some of the state Attorneys-General led by Eyitayo Jegede (Ondo) who were in attendance at the Wednesday’s meeting were said to have pleaded with JUSUN officers to suspend their strike, promising to fashion out the modalities of meeting the union’s demands within the shortest possible time.

A stakeholder who attended the meeting said, “It was said that portion of the judgment cannot be implemented in that form. References were made to previous judgments of superior courts which held that the Accountant-General of the Federation cannot unilaterally draw funds from the Federation Account without the consent of the governors.

“There is another account called the consolidated account which is under the control of the state governments. So the Attorneys-General said they had the mandate of their various governors to be able to fashion out how they can begin the implementation of the judgment from the consolidated account.”

The meeting convened by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Pius Anyim, started on Monday and was adjourned till Tuesday to ascertain the claims by the Attorneys-General of Ondo, Lagos and Delta states that their state governments were already complying with the judgment.

On Tuesday, the body of the Chief Registrars, who are the accounting officers of their various levels of judiciary, attended the meeting, stating clearly that both the state and federal governments had yet to start complying with the court judgment.

It was learnt that the state Attorneys-General who had maintained a hard stance at the two previous meetings started pleading with the union to suspend the strike to give them time to fashion out the modalities of implementing the judgment.