By Kazeem Waris
Activities at the Nasarawa State High Court headquarters in Lafia were disrupted as members of the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN), Nasarawa State branch, staged a peaceful protest in compliance with the indefinite strike declared by the union.
The protesters gathered at the premises of the High Court along Shadam Road, Lafia, carrying placards with various inscriptions demanding the implementation of salary increases and other welfare-related issues.
Some of the placards bore inscriptions including, “Let’s have our financial autonomy, time is now,” “Let’s have our right,” and “Give us 40 per cent increase in salary.
The main entrance of the court premises was, however, manned by a combined team of security personnel to prevent any breakdown of law and order.
Addressing the protesters, the state Chairman of JUSUN, Comrade Mas’ud Ubangari, urged members to remain united, focused and law-abiding as they pursued their demands.
Ubangari said the union would sustain the industrial action peacefully until the Nasarawa State Government and the Judicial Service Commission addressed its demands.
He urged members to remain committed to the struggle while ensuring that the protest remained within the bounds of the law.
However, the Covering Director of Information and Protocol, Nasarawa State High Court of Justice, Mrs Esther Agube Ogidis, said the state Chief Judge had already put mechanisms in place to address the concerns raised by judiciary workers.
Ogidis questioned the decision of the union to embark on the strike despite an order of the National Industrial Court reportedly restraining the workers from taking such action.
Also speaking, the Director of Civil Litigation, Nasarawa State Ministry of Justice, Alhassan Sabo, described the strike as illegal.
Sabo appealed to the JUSUN leadership to comply with the interim injunction issued by the National Industrial Court, which he said restrained the union from commencing or declaring the strike pending the hearing and determination of the matter.
The judiciary workers are demanding, among other issues, the implementation of a 58.1 per cent salary increase, financial autonomy for the judiciary and a 40 per cent peculiar allowance.
The strike has heightened tensions around the implementation of improved welfare packages and financial autonomy for judicial workers in the state.
