The planned industrial action of the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) may kick off without full compliance on Monday as various federal judicial bodies records successful efforts talking them out of the strike.
JUSUN chapters at the National Judicial Council (NJC), the Supreme Court of Nigeria and the Federal High Court have announced their decisions to pull out of the planned strike barely 24 hours to its commencement.
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The national headquarters of JUSUN had directed its members in all federal courts and judicial institutions nationwide to withdraw their services from 2 June and embark on an indefinite strike.
In a statement on Friday, Mustapha Laminu, JUSUN National vice-president, north-central, said the strike was to protest the non-payment of five months’ arrears of wage award, the non-implementation of the N70,000 national minimum wage, and the non-implementation of the 25/35 per cent salary increase.
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However, following the strike directive, JUSUN of various federal judicial bodies said they held meetings with stakeholders to resolve all pending issues.
They declared their stance, breaking with the national leadership of the union on the strike issue in separate statements. The statements dated 31 May (Saturday) were shared with PREMIUM TIMES on Sunday.
In one statement, judiciary workers at the NJC said they are withdrawing from the strike to give the Minister of Labour and other critical stakeholders two weeks to solve the pending problems with the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation.
“In the light of the above, we wish to state clearly that the NJC JUSUN hereby directs all staff to come to the office on Monday,” said Joel Ebiloma, spokesperson for JUSUN, NJC chapter, in a statement on Saturday.
“This is to allow the relevant stakeholders engage the necessary authorities to ensure that the Accountant General of the Federation releases the Statutory Allocations to the Judiciary based on the 2025 Appropriation in which the arrears Wage Award, minimum wage and the 25 per cent or 35 per cent salary increase have been captured.”
In the same vein, Danladi Nda, chairman of JUSUN, Supreme Court Chapter, said in a separate statement, also on Saturday, that the “Supreme Court Chapter of the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) declined and will not be participating in the planned Industrial Action (Strike) FOR NOW!”
“The executives of the staff union came to conclusion after careful assessment of the issues, and subsequent efforts of the Honorable CJN to resolve every outstanding, accruing to judiciary staff.
“We appeal to our members (Supreme Court Staff) insisting for participation in the strike to be patient, calm and persevere as we will continue supporting the Hon. CJN in the commitment of achieving the result of payment of all outstanding arrears to judiciary workers,” Mr Nda wrote in the statement accompanied with the chapter’s communique.
The communique from the chapter’s emergency meeting over the planned strike was signed by six out of a total of 12 executive committee members.
Indirectly blaming the national headquarters of the union for its tardiness, the Supreme Court chapter said as of the time of its emergency meeting on Saturday, it had yet to receive the circular declaring the strike to commence on Monday.
Similarly, members of JUSUN, Federal High Court chapter, withdrew their earlier notice of strike, saying it was “inadvertently issued before the official communication from our National Headquarters”.
“We hereby withdraw the same while awaiting the strike notice from the National Congress Office,” a statement by Samuel Ikpatt, the FHC chapter chairman, reads.
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The withdrawal of the three chapters at, including Nigeria’s topmost court – the Supreme Court – and the Federal High Court with workers present in divisions across the country, constitutes a major setback for the planned strike.
It is not clear yet if other chapters, including the Court of Appeal with divisions in most states of the country, will not join the wave of withdrawal from the strike.
Apart from the Court of Appeal, other chapters that have yet to announce their withdrawal are the FCT High Court, the Federal Judicial Service Commission and the National Judicial Institute, all of which are based on Abuja.
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