Ogun Judicial Workers on Indefinite Strike over Salary Shortchange

Abeokuta: By: Our REPORTER

Published, Wednesday, August 11, 2021

THE JUDICIAL STAFF UNION of Nigeria (JUSUN), Ogun branc, on Wednesday, has begun an indefinite strike over short payment of salaries by the state government.

The Ogun state JUSUN Chairman, Mr Edun Tajudeen, who spoke with journalists in Abeokuta, said that the strike was in compliance with the National secretariat directive to begin the strike on August 11.

Edun noted that before the decision to embark on the strike, series of meetings had been held with representatives of the state government but ended in a deadlock.

”We noticed that the short payments in our salaries since October 2020.

“This strike we are embarking is indefinite strike, because, on February 24, we gave the state government an ultimatum to pay us our full salaries before the nation-wide strike on autonomy began.

“After the strike, the meeting continued with the government but it did not yield any result,” he said.

The JUSUN chairman, however, appealed to the state government to look into the requests of the workers and do the needful.

The courts were under lock and key and nobody is allowed to gain entrance into the court premises.

It should be recalled that the national body of JUSUN on April 6 directed its members to shut down all courts across the country, demanding the implementation of law granting financial autonomy to the Judiciary.

 It's reported that a verdict of the Federal High Court in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, had in January 2014 held that financial autonomy for the judiciary is a constitutional provision that must be complied with by the executive arm of government.

The body had suspended the strike after 64 days, the longest industrial action in the Nigerian judiciary, following a meeting between officials of the union and the National Judicial Council (NJC) led by the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Ibrahim Muhammad.