Federal judicial workers under the aegis of Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) have commenced an indefinite strike action to press home their demand for improved wages.
The strike action which began on Monday paralysed activities at the Supreme Court, Court of Appeals and Federal High Courts.
The head of the workers union, Marwan Adamu told Channels Television that the union had to embark on the strike following the refusal of the government to implement the consolidated salary structure for judiciary workers in the country.
He said judiciary workers in the states are not part of the strike as the new salary structure is being implemented by the various state governments.
Workers who showed up for work at the federal high court complex in Abuja were barred from entering the complex by members of the union’s task force mandated to enforce compliance with the union’s leadership directives to members to keep away from work.
Officials of Nigerian Prison Services which brought some accused persons from Kuje prison in Abuja were also barred from entering the court premises while lawyers who had cases in courts were also turned back.
But for the presence of law enforcement officials, a scheduled seminar for judges of the federal high court organised by Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) in conjunction with National Judicial Institute (NJI) would have been aborted as participants and officials of NDIC were initially denied access into the court complex before law enforcement officials intervened and facilitated their entry.
