As the Abia State government and Judiciary Workers continue to trade words over the current industrial dispute, the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN), Abia State Chapter, has accused the State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice of creating confusion by spreading deliberate falsehood over the issue regarding why the union recently embarked on strike.
Featuring on a local Radio programme in Umuahia, the State Chairman of JUSUN, Comrade Chinedu Eze, accused the government of being ignorant of the issues and deliberate misinformation of the public on the demands at stake.
According to Comrade Eze, the major reason for their industrial action is based on a federal high court judgement of 2014 which ordered the federal and the 36 state governments to stop interfering in judiciary funds and put the judiciary on the first line charge.
The Abia JUSUN Chairman maintained that since the defendants in the case did not appeal the judgment, the government has no other option or choice except to implement the judgement of the court that favoured the full autonomy of the Judiciary.
While observing that under the trade union act, JUSUN is the only union allowed to operate under the judiciary and is solely responsible for championing the welfare of judges and magistrates as well as staff, the JUSIN Chairman made it clear that their primary demand to the Abia state government is for it to implement the financial autonomy of the judiciary as contained in the judgement.
Comrade Eze therefore described the recent news conference by the Attorney general, stating that the reason for the JUSUN strike action was on non payment of leave allowance as diversionary and deceptive.
He made it clear that once it is implemented, the judiciary workers will have little or no business with the state on issues relating to entitlements of judiciary workers.
Reacting on the issues raised by the state government spokesperson on the matter of leave bonus and leave allowance, the JUSUN Chairman clarified that leave bonuses are different from leave allowance.
“The leave allowance is just a small component of our demands. Leave allowance is different from leave bonus. Leave bonus is paid monthly even though government has not been funding it or paying it to civil servants and it covers maternity leave, casual leave and sick leave. It is provided within the monthly salary in case anyone goes on those leaves within the month. Whereas Leave allowance is 10% of the gross earning of civil servants which is paid once annually. So what the government has been paying as a result of the agreement we had is the leave bonuses which is part of our salary and paid monthly”.
He further stated that the union can no longer fold its arms and continue to accept a situation where the government chooses the laws to obey and the ones not to obey to the detriment of the justice system.
“Let me tell you, we have not enjoyed the benefit of any new Abia that is being touted, where salaries are paid on or before the 28th of every month. No judiciary worker has ever received salary on or before the 28th of every month, rather it is on the first or second week of the next month that judiciary workers are paid their salary”.
He accused the Accountant General of sitting in the comfort of her home or office to decide which funds to release to the judiciary and which one to withhold instead of implementing the judging of the court which says funds belonging to the judiciary should be given to them directly without any interference.
Comrade Eze who further claimed that there was already an application made by the management of the judiciary, wherein the magistrates were supposed to undergo some courses in Abuja, alleged that the accountant general rejected the application and sent it back to them and wondered what gives the Accountant General the powers or the impetus to withhold public funds meant for the judiciary.
The JUSUN Chairman urged the media and the public to ignore the misrepresentation of facts by the government while calling on the Authorities to do the right thing by implementing the rule of law rather than asking the union to provide evidence to the allegations made.
According to him the onus falls on the government itself to provide it’s evidence than asking them to do so, declaring that he who alleges has the duty of providing the evidence in accordance with the Country’s legal system.
Recall, the Abia State Government on Wednesday had in a news conference addressed by the Attorney General and commissioner for Justice, Barr Ikechukwu Uwanna vowed to pay the salaries of members of the state chapter of the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN), within 48 hours if the union provides evidence of non payment of Leave Bonus in its consolidated salary.
