Abia State Government has allayed the fears of the State chapter of the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN), over payment of their salaries and allowances to end the ongoing strike.
The Commissioner for Information, Prince Okey Kanu, assured that the government would honour the terms of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed last Thursday with JUSUN with regard to paying the new minimum wage.
Prince Kanu recalled that the MOU followed an agreement reached between the State Government and JUSUN to suspend their industrial action stressing that the Otti administration “is irrevocably committed to honouring all the terms of the MOU.”
JUSUN had refused to return to work, even after signing the MOU, insisting on the payment of all outstanding arrears, but the Commissioner attributed the delay in payment to the paperwork inherent in processing the large sums involved in the arrears and reassured that the payment would be made before the end of the day.
“You are all aware that just last Thursday, the State Government reached an agreement with JUSUN during which both parties signed an MOU.
“Those whose mandate it is to effect all the payments agreed upon are working round the clock to do so. I want to reassure JUSUN and members of the public that His Excellency Dr Alex Otti is a man of his word and the same goes for his appointees.
“Of course, we’ve been able to establish the fact that we mean whatever we say, so since these two groups are together, negotiated and came to terms which culminated in the terms and signing of that MOU, I can assure you that maybe later today, when they check their accounts, they will see their alerts”, Prince Kanu assured.
The Commissioner noted that the ongoing judicial reforms, which include the construction of new court buildings across the 17 LGAs, regular payment of salaries and digitizing the Judicial system to enhance justice delivery, were all geared towards making the Abia Judiciary system 21st-century compliant.
Contributing, the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Ikechukwu Uwanna, affirmed that all concerns raised by the Union regarding the New Minimum Wage had been addressed.
He added that the Judiciary Staff were expected to begin receiving their salaries, paving the way for the industrial action to be called off.
“The agreement we reached with JUSUN is multi-pronged, it is not just based on the payment of the New Minimum Wage which has already been effected. Members of the Judiciary received payment for November 2024. They will receive the rest of the number today.
“The agreement we had with JUSUN is that they will resume immediately after they receive their payment. I believe that by tomorrow, the Judiciary will resume operations,” Uwana said
