The Federal Government has revealed that they expect courts and state assemblies to re-open next week, following the agreement it reached with the striking workers in the sectors yesterday.
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Ngige, made this revelation while addressing journalists at the end of a closed-door meeting between the government and workers’ unions on Friday in Abuja.
The meeting was called to smoothen the grey areas in the Memorandum of Action (MoA) reached on May 20.
Africa Today News, New York recalls that the Judicial Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) and Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria (PASAN) had embarked on a nationwide strike on April 6.
They began the strike after the expiration of the 21-day ultimatum earlier given, over the failure of the government to implement the law recognising financial autonomy for the judiciary and the legislature.
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Ngige said that the Chairman, Governors Forum, Gov. Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State, and his Deputy, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State, have put their pen on paper on behalf of their colleagues on the historic agreement which they reached on May 20th.
According to the minister, with what we achieved at the meeting, it is expected that the courts and state assemblies will re-open next week since all the grey areas have been smoothened.
‘So, today we met with the unions in a small dialogue to dot the i’s and cross the t’s in the agreement which we agreed on May 20.
‘Right now, we expect the unions to go back to their members and give them a final briefing on what we have achieved today.
‘And with this achievement of today, we are hopeful that by next week, the chambers of our courts and the doors of the state assemblies will be open for business activities,’ he said.
Ngige said they were not oblivious that this situation has posed serious challenges to the nation, especially as the courts were closed and the law enforcement agencies have no place to take arrested criminals.
He, therefore, commended the unions for the efforts put in place in the final round of the dialogue where modalities that were not very clear have been sorted to the satisfaction of both sides.
AFRICA TODAY NEWS, NEW YORK