The Accountant General of the Federation, Mr. Jonah Otunla, has been given till January 15 to start implementing an agreement reached with the striking members of the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria last November. The JUSUN strike which has paralysed courts at all levels and other judiciary institutions nationwide since Wednesday is to continue till when the agreement is honoured. Otunla was on Wednesday handed the ultimatum to begin implementing the Memorandum of Understanding at a stakeholders’ meeting summoned by the Supervising Minister of Labour and Productivity, Kabir Turaki in Abuja. The meeting was held between 4pm and and 6pm on Wednesday. The PUNCH learnt on Wednesday that the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding reached with the union on November 27, 2014 is the pre-condition for calling off the nationwide strike which started on Monday. The National Executive Council of JUSUN is to meet between January 16 and 17 to decide on whether or not to suspend the industrial action depending on the outcome of the Federation Account Allocation Committee meeting which is to hold between January 14 and 15. The various stakeholders had on November 27, 2014 agreed that the AGF should as from December 2014 start deducting directly from the Federation Account all funds standing to the credit of the state judiciary and remit same to the National Judicial Council. The NJC is then expected to disburse the fund to the various heads of court. The MoU followed the threat issued by JUSUN last November to resume its strike over the non-implementation of the judgment of Justice Adeniyi Ademola of a Federal High Court in Abuja on January 13, 2014. Justice Ademola had in the judgment affirmed the financial autonomy granted to the judiciary in the Constitution and declared as illegal the piecemeal manner of funding the judiciary by various state governments. The Minister of Labour and Productivity was said to be furious with the AGF on Wednesday over his failure to start implementing the MoU in December 2014 as agreed among stakeholders at the previous meeting held on November 27, 2014. One of the stakeholders, who spoke with our correspondent after the meeting said, “The Accountant General of the Federation’s excuse for non-implementation of the agreement was that states’ Accountants General did not agree with him. “But the minister queried him why he found it easier to listen to the states’ accountants general than to obey the terms of the MoU and the court judgment. “He was saying that it was part of their rules that members of the accountants general forum must agree before any action is taken.” It was learnt that the AGF was made to undertake that he would write the various state accountants general on his resolve to start implementing the MoU at the next FAAC meeting which is to hold between January 14 and 15. Copyright PUNCH. All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from PUNCH. Contact: editor@punchng posted on January 08, 2015 at 12:27AM jtnng.blogspot/
Posted on: Wed, 07 Jan 2015 23:43:33 +0000
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