Abuja courts yet to begin sitting, 72 hours after strike suspension
More than 72 hours after judiciary workers in the country put their nationwide industrial action on hold, courts in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory are yet to attend to litigants.
Though the padlocks and chains used to lock up the courts have been removed since last Thursday, normal court proceedings are yet to begin as expected.
A visit by our Correspondent to the Court of Appeal in the 3 arms zone revealed that though the two courtrooms have been thrown open, Justices are yet to commence sitting on piled-up cases.
Similar visits to the federal high court, high court of the Federal Capital Territory, Sharia Court of Appeal, Customary Courts and the National Industrial Court revealed the same scenario.
The courts were seen using private cleaners to clean up courtrooms, Judges Chambers and their environment.
Managements of the courts led by their Chief Judges were seen engaged in meetings preparatory to normal proceedings.
However, at the time of this report, massive cleaning up of the Court premises were ongoing while lawyers who came on fact-finding were told to exercise patience with the court.
Judiciary workers operating under the aegis of Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria JUSUN had last week Wednesday suspended their strike action.
The indefinite nationwide strike was commenced on April 6 to back up their demand for financial autonomy for the judiciary at the state levels.
The suspension of the strike followed the intervention of the National Judicial Council *NJC which constituted a five-man panel to monitor governors’ compliance with the agreement.
