Judiciary union to shut down courts in Plateau over non payment of peculiar allowances

The  Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN), plateau State chapter, has vowed to shut down all courtrooms in the 17 local government areas of the state if their peculiar allowances were not paid as agreed by the government.

Barr. Pasi Ishaya Danle, who is the Secretary of the union in the state disclosed this yesterday, in an interview with Benue/Plateau Trust, in Jos.

According to the union, though the governor was said to have given the judiciary its full autonomy, the management had refused to implement the agreement.

He explained that during their recent strike, they agreed to suspend the action based on the negotiation and the government  had promised to pay 100 per cent  for personnel costs. He added that since Governor Lalong was a signatory to the agreement, they agreed to call off the strike.

“Recall that the union issued a notice of strike in December 2021 for non- implementation of the peculiar allowances and sundry issues, where a committee was set up to look into the union’s demands with the view to proffer ways of implementation.  After a series of meeting with the representative of the union, the Chairman of the committee, Justice Dabup informed us that their hands were tied in making any commitment in respect of the union’s demands.

“We have clearly understood that the government has given us full autonomy but the management of the judiciary in the state has refused to implement that. The management of the judiciary went behind us and brought 50  per cent, which we disagreed with because going by this, we are going to pay our staff half of their salary. That has never happened in the existence of the judiciary. For that reason, we are going to embark on strike, “the secretary said.

Contacted on the development, the Chief Registrar of the High Court, Mrs Ladi Madaki, did not respond to a call by our correspondent.