By Onyewuchi Ojinnaka
The meeting convened on Monday April 12 at the instance of Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige in his office to resolve the ongoing strike by the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) failed to reach a meaningful agreement as the Union insisted that its demand for full financial autonomy of the judiciary must be met.
Consequently, the meeting will reconvene on Thursday. Present at the meeting with the leadership of JUSUN were the Deputy Director, Press and Public Relations, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Charles Akpan; representatives of the Solicitor General of the Federation; the Nigeria Bar Association and the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Eta Enang.
Ironically, no governor or representative of any governor who are accused of flouting the constitution and executive order on financial autonomy to the judiciary was in the meeting.
JUSUN began its nationwide industrial action on Tuesday last week to press home the demand for full financial autonomy of the judiciary as provided in the 1999 constitution (as amended), the court judgement of 2014 and the Executive Order 10 of President Muhammadu Buhari. This is one of the major demands amongst others.
The Union had embarked on strike in 2015 for same demands but later suspended it after series of meetings in which they were assured of the implementation of their demands. However, the situation has remained the same, particularly at state government levels.
The state governors refused to grant financial autonomy to their state judiciary, thus putting the fate of Judiciary officers and workers at the mercy of state governors.
At the meeting on Monday between the Federal government representatives and the leadership of Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria, an appeal was made by Minister of Labour and Employment Dr. Chris Ngige to the Union to suspend the industrial action, which had paralysed activities in courts all over the country.
While making the appeal, Chris Ngige, reminded the Judiciary workers that like doctors and nurses, they were on essential duties and should not embark on strike.
He pledged that Executive Order 10 and its application, granting autonomy to the judiciary which is topmost on the demands of the union will be tackled because it is a constitutional issue.
“Even governors owe their office to the constitution. You don’t pick and choose what to obey. However, we must handle this matter with maturity and utmost patriotism,” Ngige assured.
He pleaded to the striking Judiciary workers to go back to work so that when the judicial officers return from the Easter vacation, they would not meet the strike.
However, the JUSUN President, Marwan Mustafa, maintained that they were guided by the constitution of the country in their action.
“Having agitated for so long for the needful to be done and it is not done, we went to court and got a judgement 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.”
The JUSUN leadership insisted that the strike would not be called off until the Union’s demand is met, saying this was the last strike.
“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)”. Mustafa said.
Strike takes toll
Meanwhile, as the court’s resume from Easter vacation on Monday April 12, there were no activities due to the ongoing JUSUN strike. At the Federal High Court Ikoyi Lagos, the court complex was deserted by workers. The courtrooms were locked. Only the security guards were at the gates.
The strike has affected matters slated for hearing on Monday April 12. It has also affected litigants seeking to enforce their fundamental rights. It has also affected rulings and judgements to be delivered by judges in various divisions of the court.
The inmates of Nigerian Correctional Services nationwide awaiting trial are mostly affected as their trials are now in jeopardy. This development has caused overcrowding at the detention facilities.
The situation has necessitated the acting Inspector-General of police, Usman Baba, ordering his men to avoid unnecessary arrests and detention as the strike has prevented the police and other law enforcement agencies from arraigning suspects in courts, which have remained shut since last week.
On Monday, the Force Public Relations Officer, CP Frank Mba, said the acting Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba, had ordered Commissioners of police to ensure that unnecessary arrests were avoided.
Mba, who described the strike as unfortunate, said the IGP ordered that alternative dispute resolution be explored in certain cases while administrative bail should be given where possible.
He said, “Whenever the court system is paused, the police investigations processes suffer greatly. Our investigation processes also suffer based on the fact that certain orders, authorisation that are supposed to be processed from the court are either delayed or impossible to obtain.
“Consequently, the IG has already issued an internal directive to police commissioners and those heading specialised units to ensure that persons who are qualified to go on bail are granted administrative bail without delay.
“The IG also encouraged officers to explore the use of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms to deal with cases that can be resolved using ADR without infringing on any law. He has also given express directive that conscious efforts should be made to decongest cells and avoid making frivolous arrests or arrests that are not very important in the advancement of the course of justice.”
Similarly, the spokesman for the Nigerian Correctional Service, Mr. Frank Enobore, prayed for the end of the strike as the prolonged detention of inmates could increase tension and spark a prison riot.
He disclosed that about 95 per cent of the time, prison riots were caused by persons awaiting trial or condemned inmates. He, however, added that the strike had equally stopped new inmates from coming in, since courts were shut.
Enobore said, “In a way we are not too affected because we are not seeing an influx of persons coming into the correctional centres but the irony is that we get more concerned when people are not leaving our facilities than when they are coming in.
“This is because if those who are to go to court cannot go, it will create tension. It means those who have the hope of leaving the correctional centre will have to remain there till courts resume duty. It creates tension for us, it creates concern because when the yard is tensed up, anything can happen.
“If you look at the history of internal insurrection in our facilities all this while, I can say close to 95 per cent of them are engineered by either those awaiting trial or those that are condemned to death. So, these are the areas we are getting pressure. So, the courts being shut are of concern to us.”
A human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr Femi Falana (SAN), has urged the government to meet the demands of the striking Judiciary workers.
He made reference to year 2020 when courts were shut for several months due to COVID-19 pandemic. He recalled that the COVID-19 pandemic affected several cases.
“Courts have been shut again, it would mean that certain cases would be adjourned indefinitely and this would mean that persons would be unjustly detained for longer than expected”.
“The courts were on break for almost a year because of COVID-19 challenge. Now that the courts should resume in earnest and the strike, ordinary people are affected. For those who are in prison, their case would have to be adjourned sine die which is not good.
“So, we appeal to the state and federal government to address the demands of these workers.” Falana appealed.
In same vain, Law Editors of Nigeria (LEDAN) on Monday called on Nigerian governors to honour the words and letters of the constitution by granting the fiscal independence of the judiciary in their respective states.
In a statement signed by the President of LEDAN, Mr John Unachukwu, and General Secretary, Mustapha Ogunsakin, the association reminded the governors that the services of the judiciary is for everyone, including them, whether in or out of office.
Parts of the statement read:
“Law Editors Association of Nigeria (LEDAN), is worried about the state of the nation’s judiciary and this has compelled us to add our voice on the need for those elected by the people, particularly the 36 state governors in Nigeria to respect the law as it concerns independence of the Judiciary”
The group pleaded with the Governors to move Nigeria forward, obey the rule of law, stop the assault and impunity on the laws of the land.