The Kogi State branch of the Judiciary Staff Union has filed a suit against Governor Yahaya Bello and the state Chief Judge, Justice Nasiru Ajanah, at the National Industrial Court in Lokoja over the non-remittance of the money due to judiciary workers in the state.
The workers have been on strike since December last year over the failure of the state government to pay them their eight months’ salaries.
JUSUN is seeking the intervention of the court since there has been no move by the state government to pay them.
In the originating summons filed at the court by counsel for the union, Chief U. M. Enwere, other defendants in the matter are the Attorney General of the State, Commissioner for Finance, Accountant General of the State, Auditor Generalof the State and the Judicial Service Commission.
The union is asking the court to determine, among others, whether the Kogi State Judiciary is not entitled, as of right, to the money standing to its credit in the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the state and payable to the heads of courts in line with section 231(3) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and Section 5 of the Kogi State Public Finance (Judiciary Special Provisions) Law No 6 of 1991.
The union therefore wants the court to declare that subject to the provisions of the constitution and laws of Kogi State money standing to the credit of Kogi State Judiciary in the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the state be paid directly to the heads of courts.
It also wants the court to declare that the executive lacks the power to withhold funds meant for the judiciary and the executive’s continued refusal to pay such funds due to the judiciary as unconstitutional.
It also asked for an order of the court to direct the full payment of the accumulated eight months’ subvention owed the three courts and the JSC and a perpetual injunction restraining the governor and his agents from withholding money for the Kogi State Judiciary in the Consolidated Revenue Funds in addition to restraining the executive from taking steps that tend towards usurping the powers of the JSC in terms of payment of emoluments and discipline of judiciary workers.
In the affidavit deposed to by the chairman of the union, Comrade Emmanuel Waniko, he declared that as of December 2018, after being owed salary arrears for six months, judiciary workers could no longer afford to transport themselves to work.
The workers have been on strike since December last year over the failure of the state government to pay them their eight months’ salaries.
JUSUN is seeking the intervention of the court since there has been no move by the state government to pay them.
In the originating summons filed at the court by counsel for the union, Chief U. M. Enwere, other defendants in the matter are the Attorney General of the State, Commissioner for Finance, Accountant General of the State, Auditor Generalof the State and the Judicial Service Commission.
The union is asking the court to determine, among others, whether the Kogi State Judiciary is not entitled, as of right, to the money standing to its credit in the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the state and payable to the heads of courts in line with section 231(3) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and Section 5 of the Kogi State Public Finance (Judiciary Special Provisions) Law No 6 of 1991.
The union therefore wants the court to declare that subject to the provisions of the constitution and laws of Kogi State money standing to the credit of Kogi State Judiciary in the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the state be paid directly to the heads of courts.
It also wants the court to declare that the executive lacks the power to withhold funds meant for the judiciary and the executive’s continued refusal to pay such funds due to the judiciary as unconstitutional.
It also asked for an order of the court to direct the full payment of the accumulated eight months’ subvention owed the three courts and the JSC and a perpetual injunction restraining the governor and his agents from withholding money for the Kogi State Judiciary in the Consolidated Revenue Funds in addition to restraining the executive from taking steps that tend towards usurping the powers of the JSC in terms of payment of emoluments and discipline of judiciary workers.
In the affidavit deposed to by the chairman of the union, Comrade Emmanuel Waniko, he declared that as of December 2018, after being owed salary arrears for six months, judiciary workers could no longer afford to transport themselves to work.
In this article: