From Adanna Nnamani, Abuja

The Federal Government has directed members of the striking Judiciary  Staff Union of Nigeria(JUSUN) and Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria(PASAN) to re-open all courts and state Houses of Assembly so that the May 20 Memorandum of Action (MOA) signed by all parties, and further reinforced by another meeting  on implementation of timelines  on June 4,  can take effect.

In a statement in Abuja  yesterday, Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, decried the situation where the courts and the Houses of Assembly are still shut down across the federation for no cogent reasons of non-adherence to provisions of  the May 20 MOA which has 45 days implementation window. 

“The Federal Government has sadly noted that  the MoA  between all stakeholders involved in the JUSUN, PASAN strike,  mainly JUSUN,PASAN, Governors’ Forum and Presidential  Implementation Committee is yet to take effect because of non-compliance by parties.

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“We note that the strike has not been called off as of noon, today, June 8,  leading to  courts and various state Houses of Assembly still remaining under lock and key contrary to the promise made by the two unions at  a further dialogue  which was attended by the President of the Nigerian Labour Congress.   Unfortunately, all federal courts have  remained closed notwithstanding the fact that the federal level of government  operates a financial autonomy of the judiciary through the National Judicial Council (NJC) and National Assembly through the statutory  transfer lines.”

Ngige said  many governors are desirous that state  Assemblies be opened so that they could enact  laws meant to give  effect to the autonomy as enshrined  in the MOA .

“We have advised all state governors that have consulted  with their  heads of judiciary and legislature  to go ahead and credit the accounts of judiciary and legislature before fine-tuning the laws. We are worried  and therefore wish to appeal for the last time to all parties involved in the  signed agreement to abide by its spirit and letters, by  firstly re-opening all courts the state Houses of Assembly so that all other ingredients in the MOA  can be given full compliance by all parties concerned. This much was agreed to between JUSUN, PASSAN and the governors forum at the last meeting  on Friday, June 4, 2021.”

The minister noted that  with the courts closed , the police and other security agencies cannot  prosecute criminals, hoodlums and bandits  even  as the nation is faced with heightened insecurity.