Supreme Court workers, others resume work, judges continue vacation

by Ade Adesomoju

Activities resumed at the Supreme Court and other courts in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, on Monday, after the Judicial Staff Union of Nigeria suspended its three weeks old strike on Friday.

The gates of the various courts in Abuja which had been kept under lock and key opened on Monday to usher in the judicial workers.

Our correspondent visited some of the courts on Monday and learnt that court activities such as filing of cases and other court processes  commenced immediately even as judges of the superior courts of records continued their vacation.

The superior courts of records are the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal, States and FCT High Courts, the National Industrial Court, Customary Court of Appeal and the Sharia Court of Appeal.

The judges will resume at the beginning of the new legal year in September.

However with the suspension of the strike, judges who had been assigned as vacation judges would now resume duties.

President of JUSUN, Mr. Marwan Adamu, could not be reached through his phone for his comment on the development.

The judicial workers had on July 11 embarked on a strike demanding that a judgment of the Federal High Court in Abuja, on the funding of the judiciary be complied with by the 36 state governments of the federation.

The judgment delivered by Justice Adeniyi Ademola on January 13, 2014 had ordered that the funds meant for the state judiciary should be deducted by the Accountant-General of the Federation directly for the allocation of the various state governments.

The Minister of Labour and Productivity, Emeka Wogu, had on Friday brokered a truce between the national leadership of the workers, stakeholders in the judicial sector, the Nigeria Labour Congress, and representatives of state Commissioners of Finance and the Accountant General.

In a memorandum of understanding signed by the various parties who attended the meeting in Abuja on Friday, the stakeholders promised to ensure that the workers’ demand was met within 45 days.