Federal Government has again stalled the resolution meeting with the judiciary stakeholders to resolve the ongoing nationwide strike that has paralysed Judiciary sectors.
This is the second time the meeting has been postponed within days at the instance of Minister of Labour and Employment, Chief Chris Ngige.
The meeting earlier scheduled to hold on April 15 was called off by Chief Ngige at the last minute, a development that made both JUSUN and NBA to hold separate protests in Abuja and other parts of the country on Monday.
It was then rescheduled to hold Tuesday, but was again postponed indefinitely.
As of Yesterday, no new date has been fixed for the meeting, the latest postponement dashed hopes for a quick resolution of the crisis that has now grounded courts across the country for 16 days.
The striking Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria, JUSUN, have downed tools since April 6 in protest against the non-implementation of the financial autonomy of the judiciary.
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In a statement, Chief Ngige had said that the meeting scheduled to be held with the leadership of JUSUN and other stakeholders was postponed indefinitely to afford the government time to harmonize issues arising from the union’s demand.
But JUSUN representatives staged a walkout of the venue of the meeting after about two hours of waiting without any communication from the minister.
“We went for the meeting. We were at the venue before 3 p.m. that was scheduled for the meeting. We were there when 3 p.m. passed, 3.30 p.m. passed, 4.30 p.m. passed, and 5 p.m. passed. We were there for about two hours, while the minister remained in his office, having one meeting after another, and did not have the courtesy of telling us what was happening.
“Our people began to get tired and angry. They started chanting solidarity songs and walked out of the venue,”
They said the Ministry Permanent Secretary only tried to appeal to the union to return for the meeting after they had already stormed out of the venue.
