The Federal Government has expressed optimism that the strike of the Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria and Judicial Staff Union of Nigeria will end soon.
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, stated this Thursday after a conciliation meeting between the government negotiating team and the two unions, during which he presented a proposal on financial autonomy for the judiciary and state assembly to the unions.
Ngige said the government had made offers to the two unions for them to consult with their various National Executive Committees and revert with feedback.
According to the minister, the proposal substantially addressed their demands for judicial and legislative autonomy in the 36 states of the country.
He explained that the proposal was produced by the committee of the government comprising the Solicitor General of the Federation and Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Justice, Dayo Apata (SAN), the Secretary of the Presidential Committee for the Implementation of Judicial and Legislative Autonomy, Senator Ita Enang, representative of the National Judicial Council and the Director-General of the Nigerian Governors Forum.
“A lot of work went in. We have exchanged briefs with the JUSUN and PASAN. They have their demands, which they had earlier submitted. The government side has given counter-offers and properly addressed the burning issue of financial autonomy for state legislatures and judiciary” Ngige said.
He said the meeting was adjourned to enable PASAN and JUSUN to take back the government proposal to their respective national executive committees.
“We expect them to work on the documents from tomorrow (Friday) and if they are satisfied, they should inform us. And you know that when they are satisfied, the logical thing is to call off the industrial dispute,’’ He said.
The Minister however, appealed to the striking workers to return to work to enable the government meet the outstanding part of their demands.
In their response, the National President of PASAN, Mohammed Usman and the Vice Chairman of JUSUN Emmanuel Abioye, promised to meet with their National Executive Committee, to study the situation and consider the offers before reverting back to the Minister.
