Emmanuel Ukumba in Lafia
Judiciary workers under the aegis of Judicial Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN), Nasarawa State Chapter, have embarked on an indefinite strike starting from 12 noon on Saturday, following allegations that the state’s Chief Judge has failed to meet their demands on welfare issues.
Chairman of the Nasarawa State chapter of JUSUN, Mr. Jimoh Musa, made the disclosure to journalists in Lafia yesterday.
Musa said the decision to embark on the strike was reached at a congress meeting held on Friday due to the insensitivity and refusal of the Chief Judge of the state, Justice Suleiman Dikko, to address their demands.
“We reached a consensus at the congress that if the management of the High Court headed by the Chief Judge of the state do not comply with all our demands put across to him that has been lingering before 12am yesterday (Saturday), we will resume indefinite strike.
“So, technically as I speak to you, we have commenced the strike but it is on Monday that the state will feel the impact. We have been too patient and tried hard to avoid this last resort but we have no choice than to press home our demands,” he said.
He said some of the union’s grievances included non-conversion or promotion of workers who went for further studies legitimately for the past four years and the inordinate reduction of workers’ salaries to the tune of N4.7 million monthly without any clear explanations given.
“We tried to resolve the issue amicably and not wash our dirty linen outside but he refused to listen. For the past four years, our workers get released properly to educate themselves. They go to school, come back but instead of them to be converted and promoted, the chief judge turns deaf ears on that.
“We have workers who have read law with their LL.B, Masters degrees and so on but remained redundant. Secondly, he has been slashing workers salaries for over two years now to the tune of N4.7 million monthly without any clear explanations,” he said.
