5th January, 2015
Henry Ojelu
In compliance with the nationwide strike embarked on today by judiciary workers, all High and Magistrates Courts in Lagos were shut.
Our correspondent who monitored the situation this morning reports that Litigants and lawyers were prevented from gaining access into the Lagos and Ikeja High court by officials of the Judicial Staff Union of Nigeria, JUSUN.
Judges who reported early to work were turned back as the gates were locked. The situation was also the same at magistrates courts where litigants were seen expressing disappoint over the situation.
At the Federal High Court and Court of Appeal, Lagos, some registrars were sighted at their duty post but none of the judges was on duty.
The Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria, JUSUN, had yesterday instructed all its members to embark on strike today to protest the non-implementation the January 13, 2014 judgment of a Federal High Court in Abuja.
The strike, according to the union, will be indefinite and will not be suspended until its demand for the implementation of the judgement is met.
In line with the court judgment, the Accountant-General of the Federation is to make deductions of the amount standing to the credit of states’ judiciary in the Consolidated Revenue Fund and remit it to the National Judicial Council which will then disburse same to the various heads of court.
JUSUN said it would resume strike because various stakeholders had flouted the Memorandum of Understanding in which it was agreed that the financial autonomy of the judiciary as ordered by the court would be given effect from December 2014.
The MoU signed by various parties on November 27, 2014 meeting, stipulated that as from the next Federal Accounts Allocation Committee meeting, the judgment would be implemented.
The Union had in July 2014 embarked on three weeks strike which was suspended after stakeholders promised to ensure that the union’s demands were met.
The discussions with the union culminated in the MoU which the stakeholders and the union reached in November 2014.
The terms of the MoU were due for implementation in December 2014.