From Godwin Tsa, Abuja
Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to President Muhammadu Buhari, Ita Enang, yesterday, said the protracted strike by Judicial Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) may be called off today.
The SSA, in an interview with Daily Sun, said the Federal Government has directed state governors to signed the Fund Management Law and to pay monies due to the state judiciary and legislatures into their respective accounts.
Enang, who doubles as the secretary of the Presidential Committee on Autonomy, disclosed that already, the Federal Government has put up workable template that would be agreeable to all parties to dispute.
Already, the template which has been made available to the relevant parties includes a proposal for the state governors to signed the Funds Management Law for each state and pay the money due to the state judiciary and legislatures into their accounts.
“We have given the unions the position of the Federal Government, drawn up by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige and the Presidential Implementation Committee on Autonomy, which I am the secretary. We have given it to the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), the Conference of Speakers, JUSUN, Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria (PASSAN), Body of Chief Justices, the Nigeria Bar Association and others, so we are expecting all the parties to have a meeting today (Wednesday), so that by today, they will report to us at a meeting with the minister of Labour by 3pm. So we expect that the agreement will be signed and the strike called off.”
Meanwhile, the Federal Government said it has drawn up a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with significant inputs, from all stakeholders to end the strike by JUSUN and the Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria (PSAN) when conciliation resumes today.
Providing insight into the conciliation effort of his joint committee on the dispute, Ngige described the MoU as a product of week-long consultations with critical stakeholders.
“It is an aggregate of views, propositions and positions of all parties, which we have filtered to smoothen areas of conflicts and culminating in what passes for an unassailable patriotic document.
“What we have is holistic, what this ministry regards as a conciliatory cocktail position – a mix of ideas from all sides of constitutional positions and part of Presidential Executive Order No.10.
“It is what, in our joint committee and in our wisdom, we consider necessary to make for the independence, fund wise, of the state judiciary and legislature without breaching the constitution.”
Ngige said as the chief conciliator, he has worked with Enang to consult stakeholders, including NGF Chairman, Kayode Fayemi, Chairman of Northern Governors’ Forum, Simon Lalong, officials from the governors’ forum secretariat, chairman of Speakers of the State Houses of Assembly as well as the administrative secretary of the Conference of Speakers of State Houses of Assembly.