Judicial Workers Shutdown Courts in Ogun, Over Unpaid Allowances

Judicial workers have shut down courts in Ogun state, to protest the failure of the state government to extend the payment of a 40 percent peculiar allowance to them.

The courts are to be shut for five days, by the judicial workers, who are on a five-day warning strike, starting from Monday.

Both the magistrate courts in Isabo, Abeokuta, and the State High Court Complex at Kobape, also in Abeokuta, were shut by the workers on Monday.

Affected by the shutdown are magistrate and high courts in other parts of the state.

Lawyers and litigants were prevented from entering the court’s premises as the striking judicial workers locked their entrance gates.

Chairman of the state chapter of the Judicial Staff Union of Nigeria, Olarenwaju Ajiboye told newsmen that they resorted to the warning strike, after fruitless efforts to ensure that the peculiar allowances are extended to judicial workers.

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The state government started paying the 40 percent peculiar allowance to core civil servants last year, as part of palliatives to reduce the pains of the petrol subsidy removal.

The JUSUN chairman said judicial workers would start an indefinite strike from March 18, if the state government failed to extend the allowance to them at the expiration of the warning strike.

After the warning strike, if the Ogun state government fails to do the needful, the union will proceed on indefinite strike come 18 March 2024.

In August 2023, the state government commenced the payment of non-peculiar allowance to the core civil servants, immediately we became aware of this, we informed our national body which wrote three letters – one to the Head of Service and two to the governor directly on the matter.

The Head of Service called a meeting with the union and other stakeholders to discuss the way forward.

The reasons given to the union for the government not to pay the money were not tenable and not acceptable to the union, which is why we proceeded on a day warning strike.

The union held its congress where a 21-day ultimatum was issued to the state government to do the needful failure of which will lead to five days warning strike after which we will proceed on indefinite strike, Ajiboye said.