All Lagos Court Under Lock and Key as Judiciary Staff Begin Strike

 

The Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria(JUSUN), Lagos State Branch on Tuesday morning join the National Strike called by its national body over the non-implementation of financial autonomy of the judiciary.

At the Ikeja high court premises, which also serves at the headquarters of Lagos state Judiciary all entrances leading to all officers including courtrooms were under lock and key and non of the working staff were present.

Some Judges who attempted to come to work had to turn back as they were denied entry into the court premises by the striking workers

At the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, the strike took off slowly as most of the workers reported to work early. But around 9. 30 am, officials from JUSUN strike task force came in and drove all the works, litigants as well as those who have one business or the other away.

Royal Times learned that JUSUN members nationwide were enforcing their indefinite nationwide strike, which begins on Tuesday (today), sealing up offices and pasting strike notices on their entrances.

JUSUN had on Thursday last week declared an indefinite nationwide strike over its demand for financial autonomy for the judiciary. The union had at its national executive meeting in Abuja on March 13, 2021, issued a 21-day ultimatum to the government.

In a circular dated April 1, 2021, the union had told its members to shut down courts across the country from Tuesday, April 6. 

The circular issued by the General Secretary of JUSUN, Isaiah Adetola, partly read, “Therefore, as a result of the public holiday on April 5, 2021, the strike action has been postponed to Tuesday, April 6, 2021. You are directed to shut down courts/departments in your states until further notice from the National Secretariat of JUSUN in Abuja.”

It was widely reported that President  Muhammadu Buhari, signed into law an Executive Order granting financial autonomy to the legislature and the judiciary across the 36 states of the federation on May 22, 2020

The Executive Order No. 10 of 2020, made it mandatory for all states to include the allocations of both the legislature and the judiciary in the first-line charge of their budgets.

The order also mandates the accountant-general of the federation to deduct from source amount due to the state legislatures and judiciaries from the monthly allocation to each state, for states that refuse to grant such autonomy.