13th March, 2013
Some officials of the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) on Tuesday picketed the premises of the National Industrial Court (NIC), Abuja.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that JUSUN began a strike on Monday, crippling activities in various courts in the FCT.
The action followed the expiration of a 21-day ultimatum by JUSUN for the implementation of the Consolidated Judiciary Staff Salary Structure (CONJUSS) agreed between the workers and the government in 2009.
NAN correspondent, who was at the Court House on Tuesday reports that the President of the union, Mr. Marwan Mustapha, accompanied by other officials stormed the premises and chased out workers and locked up the offices.
They arrived the Gimbiya Area 11, Garki premises of the court at about 10 a.m.
The union officials disrupted the proceedings that were going on in Courts 2 and 3, and locked up the court rooms before they proceeded to Court 1.
When the officials entered the Court 1, where the President of the Court, Justice Babatunde Adejumo was sitting, he engaged them in talks that lasted for about 45 minutes.
Adejumo told the union members that what they were fighting for could not be handled within the NIC and advised them to take the matter to the National Assembly.
He told them that NIC was only their “last bus stop” in the event that the dispute was not resolved amicably.
Adejumo said that if the court was locked up, where would they address the matter?
The president pleaded with the union to treat NIC as an exception in the ongoing strike and allow the workers to return to work. “I will appeal to you to allow this court to sit, I am not forcing you and I will not work against you.
“If you say no, I will treat this case and close; it is an order you gave which I must obey,” he said.
The president of the union, Marwan, responding to Adejumo’s plea, told the judge that JUSUN had been following the matter since 2009.
Marwan also informed Adejumo that the states had implemented the said salary structure saying, “it is the Federal judiciary that has refused to implement it”. He, however, told the Adejumo that the union would allow only his court to sit for “today while other courts will go out because of the respect the union has for him.”
“We are allowing your lordship to continue with the sitting but other courts will go out because of the respect we have for you.”
NAN reports that the JUSUN officials allowed the president’s court to continue with its sitting but other court rooms were locked up and the workers were asked to go home.
NAN reports that at about 12 p.m., the court premises were deserted with other judges sitting outside the court, while policemen mounted the gate.