The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Tanko Muhammad on Tuesday pleaded with members of the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) to call off their ongoing strike in the interest of the nation.

This was disclosed in a statement issued by Mr. Ahuraka Isah, the CJN’s Senior Special Assistant on Media.

Muhammad made the call after a meeting with the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige at the Supreme Court.

The CJN stated that calling off the strike would also allow the opportunity for further negations towards the resolution of the dispute.

Muhammad observed that some of the issues in contention were already subjudice and as such, there is a need to give the required legal process enough opportunity to be exhausted.

JUSUN members embarked on the nationwide strike on April 6 in agitation for the judiciary’s financial freedom from the executive, particularly at the state level, where the state governors only fund the two other arms of government as they please.

NAN recalled that the CJN pleaded with JUSUN on April 6 to call off the strike when he met with some national and local officials of the union in his chambers to explore solutions and ways to mitigate the impact of the strike.

Muhammad asked JUSUN to call off the strike as the process of making the state government obey Order 10 and various court judgments on the autonomy of the Judiciary is being implemented.

President Buhari had, on May 22, 2020, signed into law an Executive Order granting financial autonomy to the legislature and the judiciary across the 36 states of the federation.

Executive Order No. 10 of 2020 made it mandatory for all states to include the allocations of both the legislature and the judiciary in the first-line charge of their budgets.

The order also mandates the accountant general of the federation to deduct from source amount due to the state legislatures and judiciaries from the monthly allocation to each state, for states that refuse to grant such autonomy.

NAN