Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) has called on its members to embark on an indefinite nationwide strike to drive home their demands for financial autonomy.
In a letter dated 1st April and signed by JUSUN’s General Secretary, I M Adetola, all courts and departments in the states are directed to shut down from Tuesday April 6, pending further direction from the National Secretariat of JUSUN in Abuja.
The Union made it known that it had issued a 21 day ultimatum to the government to implement the financial autonomy of the judiciary at its last National Executive Meeting on March 13,2021 in Abuja.
It noted that failure to do so has amounted to the strike action which would have begun today but shifted to tomorrow due to the public holiday.
JUSUN has been battling for financial autonomy of the nation’s judiciary.
The judgment of a Federal High Court in 2014 had abolished the funding of the state and federal courts by the executive. According to the judgement, funds meant for judiciary should be disbursed directly to the heads of court instead of the executive arm of the government.
In May 2020, President Muhammadu Buhari signed the executive order 10 to give force to the provision of section 121(3) of the constitution which guarantees the financial autonomy of the state legislature and state judiciary.
However, at the verge of kickoff of the implementation of the Executive Order, the state governors got Mr Buhari to suspend it.
