Financial issues appear to be crippling the justice system in the South-south part of the country with workers embarking on industrial strike.
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Workers of Anambra State Customary Court of Appeal and those of customary courts yesterday began an indefinite strike over non-refund of their housing and Pencom fund deductions.
The state chairman of the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN), Mark Ifezue, addressed reporters yesterday in Awka, the state capital, on the action.
The labour leader said the union disagreed with the Customary Court of Appeal over the deductions, which he said lingered for about two years.
He said the deductions from the workers’ salaries were not remitted. Ifezue said the remittances were either to the Federal Mortgage Bank, Trust Fund Pencom or into the account of the State Customary Court of Appeal.
According to him, when the workers found out that the funds were not remitted into any of the relevant accounts, they demanded immediate refund of their money.
The decision to begin strike, the labour leader said, was taken on May 5, after JUSUN’s congress, following what he called series of demands on the refunds without results.
Ifezue said: “The congress, therefore, resolved that the workers of the Customary Court of Appeal and the State Customary Courts should stay at home, pending when the money is refunded.”