Judicial workers threaten to resume strike at month end

JUSUN, which suspended a strike action a couple of weeks ago over the same matter, has already summoned an emergency meeting of its National Executive Council (NEC) for August 30, 2014 to enforce respect of the court judgment.The union’s president , Comrade Marwan Mustapha Adamu,  in a  press statement in Abuja over the weekend lamented […]

JUSUN, which suspended a strike action a couple of weeks ago over the same matter, has already summoned an emergency meeting of its National Executive Council (NEC) for August 30, 2014 to enforce respect of the court judgment.
The union’s president , Comrade Marwan Mustapha Adamu,  in a  press statement in Abuja over the weekend lamented that a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which all relevant government stakeholders signed with the union, is being peddled as “difficult to meet” according to the FAAC.
Adamu said,  “My attention has been drawn to a publication in one of the national dailies in which one Timothy Odaah, Chairman, Forum of FAAC Commissioners, said that because of dwindling or shortfall of revenue due to force majeure declared by Shell and a series of shutdown of trunk lines and pipelines  at various terminals, including the substantial decline experienced by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) in Companies Income Tax collection…the court order would be difficult to implement.
“The forum’s chairman disrespects the MOU all the stakeholders entered into to implement the court order.”
He said, “What is difficult, when the figure is there for everybody to see how much is budgeted or what should be given to each of the organs of government due to the available resources?
“Since we signed the MOU, no one has called us for a meeting to discuss the issues in contention, but we read in the papers that the demand of the union is not feasible.
“Since that is their position…we can begin the strike at the expiration of the time frame in the agreement without any notice. We are also surprised at them, that it  is difficult to implement a court order which nobody appealed; and even at that, you signed the MOU freely.
“We want to assure Nigerians that as much as the Accountant General of the Federation through the Forum of FAAC Commissioners would want to disrespect a court on a constitution matter, we will also disrespect them and ensure that the provision of the constitution as directed by the court is restored.
“We don’t know what is difficult in implementing the court order, because when you appropriate money, the figure is there and you know how much is paid every month to judiciary and why must you pay it through that channel, rather than paying it through the National Judicial Council (NJC).”