The prospects of reopening Abia State high courts and magistrate courts has brightened as government has finally reached agreement with the leadership of the state chapter of the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN).
JUSUN had shut Abia courts since January 2, 2025 over disagreement with government on the consequential adjustments of the new minimum wage with regards to the consolidated judiciary salary structure (CONJUS).
But the State Commissioner for Information, Prince Okey Kanu, announced in a statement Thursday January 23, 2025 that government and Abia JUSUN have concluded negotiation and signed a memorandum of understanding(MOU).
“Consequent upon the signing of the memorandum of understanding between both parties, all differences in the implementation of the Consolidated Judicial Salary Structure (CONJUSS) have been resolved,” he said.
In the course of the industrial dispute, Governor Alex Otti had absolved his government of owing judiciary workers salary arrears, saying that he had already released N310 million for the payment of their salaries.
But the JUSUN leadership had countered that the amount needed to pay their salaries was N900 million taking into consideration of the consequential adjustments of CONJUS to reflect the new minimum wage.
However, it appears that government has yielded to the position of JUSUN as, according to Kanu, “Government announces that the agreed additional amount to be paid to JUSUN is being processed for remittance”.
He said that with the conclusion of negotiations between the Abia State Government and JUSUN, it was expected that the union “will convene a congress as soon as possible to officially call off the strike”.
“Government therefore expects that the ongoing strike action be called off immediately to pave the way for the reopening of our courts,” Kanu said.
While government has expressed its optimism that the strike would end “immediately” JUSUN appears not to be in a hurry to implement the agreement immediately.
A source within the Abia JUSUN leadership said that the union would not take any action until the additional amount government has undertaken to pay “is actually processed, paid, and received”.