In compliance with the nationwide strike embarked on by judiciary workers under the aegis of Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria, JUSUN, all High and Magistrates Courts in Kano were shut on Tuesday.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that JUSUN declared an indefinite nationwide strike to press home their demand for the financial autonomy of the judiciary.
A NAN correspondent who monitored developments, reports that JUSUN members locked out staff members, litigants and their lawyers from the Chief Magistrates’ Court in Norman’s Land, Zungeru Road and the Kano High Court at Miller Road among others.
The Chairman of JUSUN in Kano, Mukhtar Rabiu-Lawan, told a NAN correspondent that the lockout was in compliance with the instruction given by the JUSUN National Headquarters in its letter, No JUSUN/NHQ/GEN/III/VoL II/65 dated April 1.
”There is no going back. We have begun the strike and all courts within the state have been shut,” Mr Rabiu-Lawan said.
NAN reports that 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 amount due to the state legislatures and judiciaries from the monthly allocation to each state, for states that refuse to grant such autonomy.
JUSUN on April 3 issued a circular ordering the closure of courts across the country from April 6, as a measure to ensure an implementation of the order.
NAN
