The Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) has urged the Federal Government to direct the Attorney-General of the Federation and Accountant General to deduct monies standing to the credit of the judiciary.
The Deputy President of JUSUN, Emmanuel Abioye said this in Abuja.
“We call on the President to invoke his powers under Executive Order 10, by advising the Accountant General of the Federation to deduct at source, all funds due to State Judiciaries, and to pay same directly to the Heads of Court in States that have refused to comply with the Executive Order 10, as constitutional directives are non negotiable,” he said.
The union had, on May 5, vowed that the industrial action embarked upon to demand financial autonomy for state judiciaries would not be called off until the governors complied with the constitutional provisions.
JUSUN had begun a nationwide strike action on Tuesday, April 6, when the union directed all its members across the federation to shut down all courts after the expiration of the 21-day ultimatum earlier given over the failure of the government to implement the law.
However on May 6, after a conciliation meeting between the government negotiating team with JUSUN and the Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria (PASAN), the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, expressed optimism that the workers’ union would soon call off the industrial action.
They had fixed another meeting for Tuesday, May 11, for the unions to consult with their various National Executive Committees on the government proposal to their members.
“My call to the Federal Government in this instance is that directive should be given to the public officer who is meant to carry out that assignment.
“And who is the person? It is the Accountant General of the Federation maybe through the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF). In all these, we don’t even need the consent of the governors before the needful is done,” he said.
Abioye had stated that Sections 121(3), 81(3) and 162(9) of the constitution clearly provided for the autonomy of the judiciary.
He said it was disappointing that since Jan. 13, 2014, when the union got the Federal High Court judgment in its favour, the law was yet to be implemented.
“What is needed is that the Accountant General of the Federation in conjunction with the directive of the AGF should ensure that whatever ought to have been allocated should be so deducted at source,” he said.
President Muhammadu Buhari had, on May 22, 2020, signed into law an Executive Order granting financial autonomy to the legislature and the judiciary across the 36 states of the federation.
The Executive Order No. 10 of 2020 made it mandatory for all states to include the allocations of both the legislature and the judiciary in the first-line charge of their budgets.
The order also mandates the Accountant General of the federation to deduct from source amounts due to the state legislatures and judiciaries from the monthly allocation to each state, for states that refuse to grant such autonomy.
