FG to Meet Judiciary, Parliamentary Workers Today

By Onyebuchi Ezigbo

The Minister for Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige wil host a meeting with the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) and the Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria (PASAN) today (Tuesday).

A notice of the meeting issued by the Deputy Director in charge of Press at the ministry, Mr. Charles Akpan said the reconciliatory meeting was scheduled to hold at conference hall of the ministry at 3 pm.

Both JUSUN and PASAN are currently agitating for government to give effect to the constitutionally guaranteed financial autonomy to the judiciary and legislative arms of government in the country.

Ngige had earlier met with the judiciary workers last week at the onset of the strike and appealed to them suspend their action to allow for peaceful resolution of the dispute.

President of JUSUN, Comrade Marwan Mustafa has insisted that the union would suspend its action after their demand has been met.

He said the workers were guided by the constitution of the country in their action, stressing that democracy has to thrive on the rule of law.

Mustafa said, “The Federal Republic of Nigeria is a federation and is guided by a constitution. However, we observed that the particular provision of the constitution that grants financial autonomy to the judiciary has never been obeyed as much as it should be, particularly Section 21(3) and Section 81(3).

“Having agitated for so long for the needful to be done and it is not done, we went to court and got a judgment before 2014.We are patient. We are not lawless people because we work in a sector where the Rule of Law guides our operation. But to our amazement since we went on strike in 2015, the government seems not to hear us until now.”

Mustafa said they believe so strongly that anything could happen without the rule of law “and when there is the law of nature, life could be poor, solitary, brutish and nasty.”