… Vows To Sustain Strike Action

The Judiciary Staff Union
of Nigeria (JUSUN) has promised its members that the strike action recently embarked upon by the union nationwide would be sustained until the union’s demand for financial autonomy is granted by government.
Speaking to The Tide in Port Harcourt on Wednesday, a National Ex-officio member of the union, Comrade Barigha Thompson said the financial autonomy of the judicial system should be upheld and granted by the government in compliance with the court judgement of 2014 without any unnecessary delay.
Thompson said the court judgement was obtained by the union in January 2014, but the government has failed to grant the union financial autonomy in obedience to the court ruling, stressing that all efforts were rather made to ensure that this strike by  the union does not take place.
He said the court judgement was not appeal against and therefore remain subsisting valid judgement, adding that officials of the union gave the various stakeholders in the justice administration in the country all the necessary grace period to ensure that the court judgement is implemented yet they failed.
He explained that the said judgement was obtained on the legal interpretation of section 83 sub-section 3 as well as on section 121 sub-section 3 of the 1999 constitution was amended, which declared that judiciary must be financially independent.
He stated that the strike was not based on the issues of welfare but on absolute financial autonomy for the judicial system, stressing that union wants the judicial system free from any interference in the discharge of their duties.

Philip Okparaji