The Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria on Thursday threatened to embark on an industrial action over unpaid salaries of judges in the federal judiciary.
Justices of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal as well as judges of the Federal High Court, the National Industrial Court, the Federal Capital Territory High Court are yet to receive salaries for two months.
Staff of the various courts and other federal judiciary institutions such as the National Judicial Council, the Federal Judicial Service Commission and the National Judicial Institute are also affected.
President of JUSUN, Mr. Marwan Adamu, in a statement on Thursday, said that failure to pay the salaries of the judicial officers and the judiciary staff was inimical to the Federal Government’s anti-corruption war.
Adamu said, “The government cannot be claiming to be fighting corruption when the welfare of judges who will decide the cases is ignored. That is a way of encouraging corruption on the bench.
“We want to warn that if the government does not address this urgently we will be forced to embark on a nationwide strike.”
Adamu also lamented the non-implementation of the judgment of Justice Adeniyi Ademola of a Federal High Court, Abuja in January 2014 affirming the financial autonomy of the judiciary.
He described as sad the under-funding of the judiciary by government “which claimed to be respecting the rule of law”.
He said, “This is to tell you the level of impunity that is going on in the country. In the first place, we do not even have to go to court to enforce the constitutional provisions which are self-explanatory.
“We went on strike but we called it off after we signed a memorandum of understanding with all the parties involved. Ordinary if there is a court judgment, you don’t need to renege on its implementation if you don’t appeal against the judgment.”
He also commended some state governments which had made progress in the implementation of the judgment.
According to him, about five states out of the 36 in the federation had complied with the judgment.
“We appreciate those states that deem it fit to implement the court judgment. But we want to warn other states that have refused to comply that we are going to employ every means to force them to comply with the provisions of the Constitution.”
The judgment had prohibited piecemeal funding of the judiciary by state governments.
The judgment had ordered that, in line with constitutional provisions, funds meant for the judiciary in the various states’ budgets should be remitted to the National Judicial Council for onward disbursement to the Chief Judges of the various states.
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