Judiciary workers (JUSUN) have resumed partial duty in Lagos State after a 23-day strike to press home their demand for financial autonomy for the judiciary in the states.
Their resumption followed a directive by the Administrative Department of the Lagos State Judiciary signed yesterday by the Director, Administration and Human Resources, Kamal A. Sanusi.
The memo titled: “Notice of Resumption” directed to “all members of staff”, stated: “In view of the communiqué issued by the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN), Lagos State branch, on April 27, I have the directive to inform all members of staff to resume at their duty posts on April 29.”
It directed officers of the judiciary to be in office on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays of every week until further directive from the staff union.
All the departments of the state judiciary were opened in compliance with the directive as at yesterday, unlike Tuesday and Wednesday when only the cash office was opened. Deponents were allowed into the court complex.
The court rooms within the Ikeja High Court complex and the Roseline Omotoso Court House were all opened, while the registrars were seen behind their desks arranging case files at the court rooms, but judges were yet to begin sitting.
A source said that the JUSUN strike affected the dates already scheduled for ongoing and new cases before judges of the two court houses.
The source said judges will start sitting as soon as new dates are scheduled for case files at the courts.
The cash office was also opened to lawyers and deponents, who have started thronging the courts to file new cases and depose to affidavits.
However, judiciary workers at the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, Lagos, National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN), Ikoyi and the Court of Appeal, Lagos remained shut, as workers continued to stay away from the courts in compliance with the directive of the national officers of JUSUN, which is insisting on full financial autonomy for the judiciary across the country.
The Lagos State Chairman of JUSUN, Asiwaju Kehinde Shobowale, in a post on his whatsapp platform to the workers and other comrades, reiterated that the development is “partial strike” and that “staff first” is their new slogan.
