Negotiation with Judicial Workers Stalled

Onyebuchi Ezigbo and Alex Enumah in Abuja

The adjustment made by the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) on the agreement reached between governors and the Chief of Staff to the President, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, on how to implement financial autonomy for state judiciaries and legislatures stalled the negotiation between the federal government and the striking judiciary workers, THISDAY’s investigation has revealed.

But it was learnt that President Muhammadu Buhari has intervened to resolve the raging crisis.
The judicial workers have been on strike since April 6 to pressure governors to implement the law granting financial autonomy to state judiciaries and legislatures.

A meeting between the leadership of the striking workers’ union, the Judicial Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) and the federal government ended in a stalemate on Tuesday as the union walked out in protest over the delay in commencing the meeting.

The workers’ strike, however, got the backing of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Ibrahim Muhammad, yesterday with him saying that the reasons for their actions were genuine.
The agitation by the JUSUN and Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria (PASAN) for financial autonomy for the judiciary and legislative arms of government in the states had led to the shutdown of courts nationwide for the second week running.

At a meeting between Gambari and the governors on Monday, both parties agreed on resolving the dispute, with the governors proposing May timeline for the commencement of the implementation of the autonomy.

But a presidency source told THISDAY yesterday that before the proposals by the governors were tabled before the leadership of JUSUN and PASAN for consideration last Tuesday, it was discovered that the governors had made some adjustments to their proposal.

The source said: “They reached an agreement in a meeting with the Chief of Staff to the President and when they came to the Ministry of Labour and Employment for the reconciliatory meeting, the Accountant-General of the Federation who is the chairman of the Implementation Committee on the Enforcement of Executive Order 10 and the representative of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum presented different documents.
“It was noticed that the NGF amended some aspects of the agreement they reached with the Chief of Staff on the previous day.”

He said that it was in the process of trying to reconcile the differences by the government team that the representatives of the government delayed the meeting with JUSUN officials.
According to him, this development delayed the commencement of the reconciliatory meeting with the leadership of the judiciary and parliamentary workers and their subsequent walkout.

The source said the president had taken up the matter with a view to resolving it.
On the issue of the implementation of the Executive Order 10, the source said under the agreement, the governors were expected to comply with the constitutional provision by transferring allocations due to the two other arms of government in their states to the accounts of their judiciaries and legislatures without any deductions.

He said the agreement also provided that when any state failed to comply with the agreement on financial autonomy, the Accountant-General of the Federation would invoke the executive order to start the direct transfer of allocations from the Federation Account to the two arms without recourse to the governors.

The source, however, added that the governors later adjusted their position on the matter by insisting that they would make deductions from the judiciary allocations to pay for loans.
He said: “Governors have not agreed on the full transmission of allocations to the state judiciaries and legislatures.

“Some of the governors are still claiming that they are owing loans of various cadre and that these loans should be deducted before transmission of funds to the accounts of the judiciary and legislative arms of government.

“In addition, the governors said there are expenditures on capital projects such as the buildings housing the state Houses of Assembly, the courts and judges quarters, which are being built and managed by the state Ministries of Works and Housing. The state governors said that until such collective budgetary expenditures are deducted, they will not transfer the funds.”

NGF Chairman and Governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, had told journalists after the governors’ meeting with Gambari that he and his colleagues were in principle not opposed to financial autonomy for both the judiciaries and legislatures in the 36 states of the federation.

He had said: “But for us, we’re here for legislative and judicial autonomy and the governors, the speakers and the judges are on the same page, as far as this issue is concerned.
“We just emerged from a meeting with the Solicitor-General of the Federation, the representatives of the judiciary, the representatives of the Conference of Speakers and House of Representatives and we are on all fours. An agreement has been reached.”
He said the implementation of financial autonomy had been finally resolved at the meeting and would begin latest by the end of May once the final copy of the implementation document is ready.

Reasons for Strike Genuine, Says CJN

Meanwhile, Justice Muhammad has thrown his weight behind the strike by JUSUN, saying that the reasons for their actions are genuine
The CJN stated that it has become difficult to fault the idea of the strike since the rights of the union and its members, which have been clearly defined in the constitution, are being denied especially at the state level.

The CJN said the strike is aimed at realising their constitutionally guaranteed rights.
The CJN stated these when some members of the striking judiciary workers led by the union’s Deputy National President, Mr. Emmanuel Abioye, visited him to report the position of the union on the ongoing strike.

Receiving the striking workers in his office, Justice Muhammad said: ‘’I can’t fault your reasons for embarking on this protest because the union wants its rights restored in line with the provisions of the constitution.”

The CJN, according to a statement by his media aide, Mr. Ahuraka Isah, however, commended the union “for following due process so far to protest the injustice.”

Earlier, Abioye in company with the National Treasurer of the union, Mr. Musa Alonge, and others had explained why the union found it difficult to heed the CJN’s demand to call off the strike.

According to him, for the strike to be called off, the governors must begin to demonstrate some level of seriousness by putting in place measures precedent to the implementation of financial autonomy for the judiciary in their respective states.

‘’Though there’s financial autonomy for the judiciary already in some states while some are assuring us that they would comply, but others have to take steps in readiness for compliance,’’ Abioye said.

He added that the union expected each state to start implementing its self-accounting law to deal with the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) in line with Section 121(3) of the 1999 Constitution as amended; and that states without such the law should put it in place.

He said the governors must ensure that the amount standing to the credit of the judiciary from the monthly federal allocation should be deducted directly from the source by the Accountant-General of the Federation and remit same to the National Judicial Council (NJC) for onward transmission to heads of courts.

According to JUSUN the budget of each state judiciary submitted to the implementation committee (received) on October 2, 2020) should be implemented with the deduction of the amount due to the state judiciaries directly from the source by Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF) in line with Sections 81(3) and 162(9) of 1999 Constitution (as amended) for the states.

“The AGF should deduct from the monthly federal allocation and remit it to NJC for onward transmission of the fund to the heads of courts at the state judiciary. Until this is done, there is no going back, the strike would go on,’’ he said.