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JUSUN Strike Bites In Rivers …As FG Kicks
The strike action embarked upon by the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) took a more debilitating dimension yesterday as litigants and lawyers in the state were denied access to the Federal High Court Complex.
Our Correspondent, who visted the Federal High Court and Appeal Courts reports that the premises of both courts were under lock and key.
According to our correspondent, lawyers and litigants were shocked as they were denied entrance into both complexes.
One of the litigants, Nwubi Samuel, who said he had a matter scheduled for ruling yesterday, added that the strike will have a negative impact on the society.
According to him, the ruling was set to free an accused person who has been awaiting trial for over four years.
On his part, Mr. Adidu Onyebi, described the strike as a major setback in the country’s justice administration, and called on all the parties in the matter to find a lasting solution to the crisis.
Speaking, one of the lawyers, Barr. Akpokuche Omesurum urged the Federal Government to address the problem, and ensure that the lingering issues are settled.
Meanwhile the Federal Government yesterday faulted allegations by the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria that it did not comply with the judgement which barred the executive from holding on to funds meant for the judiciary.
The judiciary workers had on Monday embarked on an indefinite strike to protest the non-compliance of state governments with the court order on financial autonomy for the judiciary.
The court order was granted by Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court, Abuja on January 13, 2014.
The strike had paralyzed activities at the courts across the country as litigants and lawyers were denied access to the premises.
But reacting to the allegation of not complying with the court order, the Accountant General of the Federation, Mr Jonah Otunla, said during an interview with journalists in Abuja, that the Federal Government had always ensured compliance.
He said, “The first impression I should correct is that the Office of the Accountant General was never a party to that litigation.
“But without any prejudice to that and also reminding you that the federal government has been acting consequently with what it should do.
“We’ve always been giving National Judicial Council its money as a first line charge without interference with how they manage the funds.”
Otunla explained that at the last Federation Account Allocation Committee meeting held on December 16, a nominal distribution for money was made to the various state judiciaries.
This move, he noted, was stopped by the states to enable them (states) carry out what he referred to as reconciliation of figures.
He said, “At the last Federation Accounts Allocation Committee meeting, the OAGF made a nominal distribution for money to be remitted to the various state judiciaries but the states said they should give them more time to reconcile their figures and they rightly declined that we should not effect the deduction.
“So at the Federal Ministry of Finance, we have tried our very best to ensure that the judgement is abided with. So the fault is not really ours.
“I think some states have even gone as far as to challenge the judgement and it’s not really on the part of the OAGF to deduct the money of state when they say don’t.”
The Nigeria Immigration Service has officially ended passport production at multiple centres, transitioning to a single, centralised system for the first time in 62 years.
Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, disclosed this yesterday while inspecting Nigeria’s new Centralised Passport Personalisation Centre at the NIS Headquarters in Abuja.
He stated that since the establishment of NIS in 1963, Nigeria had never operated a central passport production centre, until now, marking a major reform milestone.
“The project is 100 per cent ready. Nigeria can now be more productive and efficient in delivering passport services,” Tunji-Ojo said.
He explained that old machines could only produce 250 to 300 passports daily, but the new system had a capacity of 4,500 to 5,000 passports every day.
“With this, NIS can now meet daily demands within just four to five hours of operation,” he added, describing it as a game-changer for passport processing in Nigeria.
“We promised two-week delivery, and we’re now pushing for one week.
“Automation and optimisation are crucial for keeping this promise to Nigerians,” the minister said.
He noted that centralisation, in line with global standards, would improve uniformity and enhance the overall integrity of Nigerian travel documents worldwide.
Tunji-Ojo described the development as a step toward bringing services closer to Nigerians while driving a culture of efficiency and total passport system reform.
He said the centralised production system aligned with President Bola Tinubu’s reform agenda, boosting NIS capacity and changing the narrative for better service delivery.
The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) has disbursed N2.225 trillion as federation revenue for the month of August 2025, the highest ever allocation to the three tiers of government and other statutory recipients.
This marks the second consecutive month that FAAC disbursements have crossed the N2 trillion mark.
The revenue, shared at the August 2025 FAAC meeting in Abuja, was buoyed by increases in oil and gas royalty, value-added tax (VAT), and common external tariff (CET) levies, according to a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting.
Out of the N2.225 trillion total distributable revenue, FAAC said N1,478.593 trillion came from statutory revenue, N672.903 billion from VAT, N32.338 billion from the Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL), and N41.284 billion from Exchange Difference.
The communiqué revealed that gross federation revenue for the month stood at N3.635 trillion. From this amount, N124.839 billion was deducted as cost of collection, while N1,285.845 trillion was set aside for transfers, interventions, refunds, and savings.
From the statutory revenue of N1.478 trillion, the Federal Government received N684.462 billion, State Governments received N347.168 billion, and Local Government Councils received N267.652 billion. A further N179.311 billion (13 per cent of mineral revenue) went to oil-producing states as derivation revenue.
From the distributable VAT revenue of N672.903 billion, the Federal Government received N100.935 billion, the states received N336.452 billion, while the local governments got N235.516 billion.
Of the N32.338 billion shared from EMTL, the Federal Government received N4.851 billion, the States received N16.169 billion, and the Local Governments received N11.318 billion.
From the N41.284 billion exchange difference, the Federal Government received N19.799 billion, the states received N10.042 billion, and the local governments received N7.742 billion, while N3.701 billion (13 per cent of mineral revenue) was shared to the oil-producing states as derivation.
The Governing Council of Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic, Bori, has decried the inadequate power supply and poor state of infrastructural facilities and equipment at the institution.
The Council also appealed to the government, including Non-Governmental Organisations, agencies, as well as well-meaning Rivers people to intervene to restore and sustain the laudable gesture, dreams and aspirations of the founding fathers of the polytechnic.
The Chairman of the newly inaugurated Council, Professor Friday B. Sigalo, made this appeal during a tour of facilities at the Polytechnic, recently.
Accompanied by members of the team, Prof Sigalo emphasised the position of technology, technical and vocational education in sustainable development.
He noted that with the prospects on ground, and the programmes and activities undertaken in the polytechnic, there is no doubt that the institution would add values to the educational system in our society and foster the desired development, if the existing challenges are jointly tackled.
This was contained in a statement signed by Deputy Registrar, Public Relations, Kenpoly, Innocent Ogbonda-Nwanwu, and made available to The Tide in Port Harcourt.
The chairman who restated the intention of his team of technocrats to ensure that KenPoly enjoys desirable face-lift, said the Council would deliver on its core mandates, accordingly.
Earlier, the Rector, KenPoly Engr. Dr. Ledum S. Gwarah, commended the appointment of Professor Friday B. Sigalo as Chairman of the KenPoly Governing Council.
He described him and his team as seasoned technocrats and expressed confidence in their ability to succeed.
The Rector pledged the management’s support to the Council to ensure that KenPoly resumes its rightful place in the comity of polytechnics in the country.
Facilities visited by the Governing Council include KenPoly workshops, laboratories, skills acquisition centre, library, hostels and medical centre.
Chinedu Wosu
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