Members of the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) announced their strike today with the closure of Federal High Courts in different states across the nation. The union said the purpose of the strike is to draw attention to the financial autonomy of Nigeria’s Judiciary.
This was disclosed by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in a report on Tuesday morning, after staff members, lawyers, and others were locked out and prevented from entering court premises.
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Members of the union said they were on strike to press home their demand for the financial autonomy of the judiciary. JUSUN President, Mr Marwan Adamu, said all courts and other departments would be shut until and unless the government does the needful.
The Chairman of JUSUN in Kano, Mr Mukhtar Rabiu-Lawan, said, “There is no going back. We have begun the strike and all courts within the state have been shut.”
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What you should know
On May 22, 2020, President Muhammadu Buhari signed into law Executive Order No. 10 of 2020, granting financial autonomy to the legislature and the judiciary across the 36 states of the federation, requiring all states to include the allocations of both the legislature and the judiciary in the first-line charge of their budget; and also ordered 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 that refuses to grant such autonomy.