By JVINN Okafor (Managing Editor) @AuntyJVIN
Disturbed by the lingering industrial action by the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN), President Muhammadu Buhari, on Friday, ordered the immediate intervention of his Chief of Staff, Professor Ibrahim Gambari, and the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, including other relevant stakeholders, in the resolution of the strike action.
The judiciary workers under the platform of JUSUN have embarked on a nationwide strike since the early week of April, a development that has caused total paralysis of court activities in the country and has equally affected the administration of the justice system.
The failure of the negotiation parley between the Federal Government and the striking workers however informed the Presidential directive on JUSUN strike resolution.
The President's directive was made known on Friday by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Nwabueze Ngige when briefed reporters after a meeting with the President at the State House in Abuja. He noted that the meeting was to intimate President Buhari on the industrial actions by various unions in the country.
The minister also explained that he briefed the President about ongoing efforts by his ministry and resolutions reached, including a review of hazard allowance.
However, leaders of the Judicial Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) and the Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria (PASAN), on Tuesday, staged a walkout from the venue of a meeting scheduled with the minister of Labour and Employment.
The angry striking workers who ignored several entreaties from the permanent secretary who informed them that Ngige was holding a meeting with the government team in his office, chanted solidarity songs as they filed out of the meeting venue.
The failed meeting was the second scheduled parley with Ngige in the series of talks to amicably settle the industrial dispute between the Judiciary workers and the government. But the Minister said the meeting was shifted to enable the government’s negotiating team harmonise all issues from the Memorandum of Understanding reached at separate meetings with tiers and arms of government.
“There is no point rushing to do a meeting that will be fruitless. The judiciary, the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, and even the Presidency are involved in this negotiation because the meeting held yesterday (Monday) was at the Office of the Chief of Staff to the President.
“The arising documents are not yet properly harmonized; it will, therefore, not be fruitful to hold a negotiation where people speak from irreconcilable positions,” the minister told reporters on Tuesday. NNL.
