Partial compliance : Abia Judiciary Workers vow to continue with strike

By Ijendu Iheaka
October 25, 2016

The striking Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) on Tuesday said it would continue its strike unless the Abia state government ensured full compliance with the 2014 court order.

The Abia state chapter of JUSUN had gone on strike on October 10, 2016 to pursue the full implementation of a court order granting the judiciary financial autonomy in all Nigerian states.

The state Chairman of JUSUN, Mr Emmanuel Onyemereibeya disclosed this in Umuahia on the sidelines of events to mark the 2016 /2017 Abia State Legal year.

He said that the state government had not attended the meetings scheduled to discuss resolution of the strike which he interpreted to mean that “They have no interest in resolving the matter”.

Onyemereibeya therefore said that the strike would continue until the state government complied totally with the provisions of the court order as directed by the national body of judiciary workers.

NAN reports that Ikpeazu in 2015 began partial compliance with the order with payment of the Consolidated Judicial Salary Structure (CONJUSS) to Abia judicial workers with a N40, 000 minimum wage.

However, the Abia JUSUN Secretary, Mr Chinedu Eze said that other aspects of the order which included payment of capital and overhead costs to court heads had not been complied with.

The Secretary who noted that their strike was not exclusively because they were owed some months salaries, added that the state government still owed them the 2015 CONJUSS arrears.

Eze said that JUSUN was concerned that funds accruable to the courts which should be given to heads of courts to manage is instead said to be kept in the Abia government house.

“Right now, the state government has not paid the judiciary workers since August 2016 and yet they have paid the State House of Assembly for September. This is not fair.

“If they say that that there is no money in the state, then all the workers should feel it not that some workers will be paid and others will not be paid. It is not right”, he said.

He noted that the body would not stop the strike unless the state government complied fully with the whole provisions of the court order.

Asked if the strike was not ill-timed considering Governor Ikpeazu's several court cases with two still pending in the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal, Eze said there could be no better time to obey a court order.