Ngige says Governors, JUSUN, PASAN have agreed on financial autonomy implementation

22 May Ngige says Governors, JUSUN, PASAN have agreed on financial autonomy implementation

The ministry of Labour and Productivity has announced that Nigerian state governors have reached an agreement with the striking judiciary and parliamentary workers on the autonomy of the arms of government.

A statement signed by Charles Akpan, the Deputy Director Press and Public Relations of the ministry, quoted the labour minister, Chris Ngige, as saying the implementation of the newly signed agreement would begin next week, after which the workers would call off their strike as soon as the implementation begins.

Members of the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria have been on strike since April 6, shutting down all courts across the country in agitation for the financial autonomy of the judiciary, particularly at the state level.

Also, Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria (PASAN), members are said to be on strike in some states over the denial of state Houses of Assembly their financial independence.

Ngige presided over the meeting with the leadership of the two unions on Thursday the latest in the series of conciliatory talks.

The meeting was attended by the Secretary of the Presidential Implementation Committee on the Autonomy of the Judiciary and Legislature, Ita Enang, who doubles as the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Nigeria Delta Affairs.

The governors were not present, but Mr Ngige, who heads the federal government’s negotiation team on the financial autonomy matter, said ”they had agreed to the terms of the agreement”.

The meeting began at about 6.45 p.m. and ended at about 10.p.m. on Thursday with the adoption and signing of a Memorandum Of Action (MOA), the labour ministry’s statement read.

A major highlight of the MOA titled, ‘Implementation of Financial Autonomy for the State Legislature and Judiciary’, is Article D, “upon which the suspension of the strike is predicated”.

The implementation of the agreement will be “triggered as from Monday, May 24, 2021, when the April FAAC to states is expected to start dropping,” the statement added.

Speaking after Thursday’s meeting, Ngige said the parties signed “the document containing the framework for each of the state governments to grant autonomy to their legislature and judiciary.”

He noted that state governors had “studied the document and were in agreement with it”.

The assurance, however, tallies with a promise by the NGF chairman, Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State, in April that the implementation of the financial autonomy of the state judiciary and legislature would start by May ending.