By Bimbola Oyesola, [email protected]
Members of the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) will hold a nationwide protests today to further give impetus to the ongoing indefinite nationwide strike.
This is even as the union has insisted to continue with its strike indefinitely until the government honours the constitutional rights of the independence and financial autonomy of the judiciary.
General secretary of JUSUN, Isaiah Adetola, in an interview with the Daily Sun at the weekend, said the protest was borne out of the refusal of governors to meet with the union last Wednesday.
According to him, the governors, whom he said were the ones flagrantly disregarding the constitution, had earlier scheduled a meeting with the union but cancelled the meeting without any explanation.
“We were expected to meet with the representatives of the governors last Wednesday, but at the last minute we got the information through the Minister of Labour that the meeting has been postponed indefinitely.
“That shows the unseriousness of the governors and the fact that they were undermining us. Therefore the strike will continue until they are ready to follow the law and respect the court judgment,” he said.
The general secretary stated that all members of the union have been fully mobilized for the protests, which would hold simultaneously throughout the states of the federation to further ensure success of the ongoing industrial action.
Recall that ahead of the commencement of its action on Tuesday, April 6, JUSUN’s national leadership, in a circular on April 1, ordered the closure of courts from April 5, until government complies with the Nigerian Constitution, court judgments and other instruments, which confer or re-emphasises the financial autonomy of the judiciary.
The union’s scribe said JUSUN went to court in 2014 that government should make judiciary autonomous, stating that 70 per cent of irregularities in the judicial system would become history if the system is autonomous and doesn’t go cap in hand to the executive for funding.
He explained that the union had met with the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) penultimate Wednesday, the Ministry of Labour and Employment last Monday, while the states, where the issue is more prevalent, have been avoiding dialogue with the union.
He said, “The last strike we had was about four to five years ago, then government set up a committee where JUSUN and parliamentary workers were represented, but nothing happened. So, we will continue with our action until the governments, especially the state governments, do the needful.
“The issue at stake is Section 121 sub-section 3 of the 1999 Constitution, which most of the governors swore to uphold. They promised to uphold that section of the constitution but, surprisingly, they are not, which is an impeachable offence.”