A justice advocacy group has written to the Judicial Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN), appealing for an end to the lingering judiciary strike in the country. Access to Justice in the letter dated 22nd April, 2015 and addressed to JUSUN National President, Comrade Marwan Adamu, lamented the crippling effects of the strike, which has been in place since early January. The letter was signed by the group’s Executive Director Joseph Otteh and Senior Programme Officer Chinelo Chinweze. It reads in part:

“On January 5 2015, the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) embarked upon a nationwide strike action to enforce compliance and implementation of the judgment it won declaring that the judiciary was entitled to exercise financial autonomy over its budget. The strike has been called off in a substantial number of states and at the federal level. However, the strike is still on-going in about 15 states from reports available to us. The strike action, as JUSUN has said, will continue in those states where the governments have not given commitments to abide by the court judgment.

“From January 5 when the strike began, and in the states where it is still on-going, the strike action is nearly four months old. In the states affected, courts have been shut and no activities are able to take place there following a lock-out enforced by your association.

“Access to Justice [A2Justice] appeals to JUSUN to consider calling off the strike action at this time. We do this for two principal reasons: first, the impact of the strike has been massive, and has had the most disproportionate effect on persons who are mostly “outsiders” to the policy making circuit and who exercise little or no influence over policy makers who alone can address the grievances being expressed by JUSUN in the sustained strike.

“Second, there will be considerable changes to the composition of the executive branch in a significant number of states where the strike is taking place soon. Newly elected Governors will be sworn into office in some of these states on May 29, 2015, which is barely a month from this time. This is the situation in states like Kaduna, Enugu, Plateau, Taraba and Nasarawa states, among others. The in-coming administrations could pursue a different policy from those being currently applied by the current group of incumbencies, and could very well differ on policies relating to compliance with the Justice Ademola Judgment. But coming into office and meeting a pre-existing and on-going strike action that has effectively crippled the operations of a vital branch of government will not represent a healthy inheritance, nor a good start to the business of governance. In this instance, it appears to be more meaningful that new governments begin on a clean slate and have the space and opportunity to articulate their own policies as well as correct past policies that have created obstacles to good governance.

“Besides this, we urge you to consider strongly the case of those who are blighted the most by the strike – the “innocent” third parties: there are thousands, probably tens of thousands of people who are languishing in detention, in police and prison cells because their cases cannot be processed by courts that have been shut following the strike action. The wholesale denial of the constitutional rights of these people over this protracted period, with no immediate expectation of amelioration or relief, is a staggering and grave injustice to them. These “casualties” of the strike action bear no responsibility for the state of affairs that triggered the strike by JUSUN. In fact, many of them will include those who support the cause of a free and independent Judiciary – the mantra of the struggle now waged by JUSUN – and they will wonder how they should bear responsibility, on this kind of debilitating scale, for the failure of governments to guarantee the implementation of the high court’s judgment. They have unfairly, unjustly and disproportionately borne the brunt of the strike action.

“Those governments that have refused to comply with Hon. Justice Ademola’s judgment have little compunction about the suffering the strike action is causing to innocent parties and may not have any strategic interests themselves that are adversely and significantly affected by the closure of the courts. In fact, in some cases, the lack of access to courts for citizens may even benefit some governments whose actions or wrongs cannot be taken to courts to be heard or redressed. Ultimately, we could be witnessing a situation where delinquent governments have decided to wait out the strike action till the end of their tenures on May 29th. If JUSUN continues the strike action till that time, it will make no difference to these governments; it is the situation of the “ordinary” citizen that will be worsened.

“Given all this, A2Justice implores on JUSUN to end this strike now, and re-open locked court houses for business. We urge JUSUN to be responsive to the distress the strike action has caused to indigent, vulnerable people and to remember that many Nigerians support the fight for a truly independent Judiciary, and so, support JUSUN’s efforts to bring about this. However, JUSUN has a responsibility too to ensure that the rights of Nigerians (and even foreigners) to courts and to justice are maintained and protected. Further prolongation of the strike action will exacerbate the grievous denial of their rights.”

•Photo shows JUSUN National President, Comrade Marwan Adamu.

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