Financial Autonomy: JUSUN Called Off Strike Without Achieving Aims

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The Ikeja branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has said
the Judicial Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) called off its strike
too early, without achieving its aim of financial autonomy of the
judiciary.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the 64-day-old
strike, the longest industrial action in the Nigerian judiciary,
was suspended on Wednesday, following a meeting between officials
of the union and the National Judicial Council (NJC) led by the
Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Ibrahim Muhammad.

NAN reports that courts are to re-open on June 14.

Speaking to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday,
Bartholomew Aguegbodo, the Chairman of the Ikeja branch of the NBA
described the suspension of the industrial action by JUSUN as “not
worth it”.

“Having sustained the strike for over two months, the question
JUSUN should have asked when considering calling off the strike is
what have we achieved?

“The strike meted untold hardships on lawyers and litigants
alike. If you’re fighting a noble cause and you cannot sustain it,
it is not worth commencing it.

“The period the strike was on was fruitless. JUSUN says it is
suspending the strike and is giving the government three months to
implement terms, we know after three months we won’t be able to
call up another action.

“The calling off of the strike is quite unfortunate, nothing has
been achieved so far and it is going to remain business as usual,”
he said.

The NBA Ikeja Chairman noted that all over the world, there is
no struggle that does not have a price and that the struggle for
financial autonomy of the judiciary was not solely for JUSUN and
the NBA.

Mr Aguegbodo said the corporate world also suffered from the
non-financial autonomy of the judiciary.

He said that a more effective method would have been a joint
action between JUSUN and other labour unions to press home the
demands for judicial financial autonomy to the state governors.

NAN reports that the union JUSUN had begun a nationwide strike
on Tuesday, April 6, when the union directed all its members across
the federation to shut down all courts after the expiration of the
21-day ultimatum earlier given over the failure of the government
to implement the law.

NAN reports 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 branch of government.

NAN reports that on May 23, President Buhari signed into law the
Executive Order to grant financial autonomy to the legislature and
the judiciary across the 36 states of the country.

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

The Attorney General of the Federation Minister of Justice,
Abubakar Malami, said Executive Order No. 10 of 2020 made it
mandatory that all states of the federation should include the
allocations of both the legislature and the judiciary in the
first-line charge of their budgets.

According to the AGF: “A Presidential Implementation Committee
was constituted to fashion out strategies and modalities for the
implementation of financial autonomy for the State Legislature and
State Judiciary in compliance with section 121(3) of the
Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as
Amended).”

NAN reports that the Nigeria Governors Forum said it will start
implementing financial autonomy for the judiciary latest by May
ending, a pledge that indicated that an end to the ongoing strike
that has crippled the nation’s judiciary may be in sight.

The governors also called on striking members of the JUSUN to
call off their two weeks old strike then.

The Chairman of the NGF, Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti, gave this
assurance in an interview with journalists after meeting with
“stakeholders” from the state judiciary and legislature at the
Presidential Villa in Abuja.

Mr Fayemi said the modalities for the implementation were worked
out at the meeting held at the Presidential Villa.

According to him, the meeting, chaired by the Chief of Staff to
President Buhari, Ibrahim Gambari, was attended by the
Solicitor-General of the Federation, representatives of the
judiciary, Conference of Speakers and House of Representatives.

The first line charge status, which is being respected by the
Federal Government in respect of the federal judiciary, entitles
the state judiciaries to get funds due to them directly from the
Federation Account.(NAN)