JUSUN strike: Many languishing in prison, police custody – Lawal

Mr. Ibrahim Lawal, a legal luminary and Head of Chambers, Akeredolu and Ogunjimi chambers, has confirmed that while he supports financial autonomy for judicial staff, his main concern is the survival of judicial officers who are short on funds, rather than judicial independence.

Bias was one of the reasons the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) went on a nationwide strike to press home their demand for autonomy as enshrined in President Muhammadu Buhari’s Executive Order 10 signed into law in 2020, according to a senior lawyer who accused the executive and legislative arms of government of not being fair to the judiciary.

Lawal explained on a radio current affairs program in Osogbo on Wednesday that the JUSUN strike has had an effect on the country, with people languishing in prisons and police custody due to court closures.

He said that Nigerians’ fundamental rights to express themselves have been stripped away and that the strike has caused the government a great deal of damage in the international community, as the country is no longer seen in a positive light.

Lawal distinguished the JUSUN and Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria (PASAN) strikes by stating that the former is fighting for financial autonomy and believes that state governments are doing nothing, while the latter is fighting for federal government allowances.

While demanding to know which fund will be used to compensate state judicial officers if their autonomy is restored, Lawal insisted that a blueprint is needed to ensure that the governance process is not disturbed because the amount available to states varies.

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“Most of the states are insolvent,” he claims. By definition, they are just nations. States are unable to provide what they lack.

“There should be in a place a percentage formula to fund JUSUN and also a mechanism to check how the funds will be expended because even the execution of the constituency projects of the legislature is carried out by the Executive arm of government.

“Also, there should be a review of the revenue system, but it should not impact negatively on the states.”

The legal luminary revealed that the resolution of the JUSUN strike will be determined by the state governors because they are the ones that will implement the financial autonomy the judiciary is seeking.

“The Federal Government has already started the implementation for federal judicial officers and Ogun is the only state in the country that has constituted a House of Assembly Commission, but its effectiveness is still in doubt,” he added.