From Adanna Nnamani, Abuja
The Federal Government has ordered members of the striking Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) and the Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria(PASAN) to immediately reopen all courts and State Houses of Assembly across the nation.
Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige in a statement in Abuja on Tuesday, condemned the refusal of courts and the State Houses of Assembly across the federation to operate, saying that the continued shut down for no cogent reasons goes against  the provisions of  the May 20 Memorandum of Action signed by all partied and which has 45 days implementation window.
According to Ngige, non-compliance of JUSUN and PASAN to the signed agreement, is delaying the government from keeping to it’s end of the bargain.
He further warned that he may be forced  to employ sections of the Trade Disputes Acts capable of erasing all the achievements made so far in the negotiations since May 6, 2021, if the unions persist.
 “ The Federal Government has sadly noted that  the MOA  between all the stakeholders involved in the JUSUN/ PASAN strike,  mainly JUSUN/PASAN, Governors’ Forum and the Presidential  Implementation Committee is yet to take effect because of non-compliance by parties.
“We note that the strike has not been called off as of noon, today, June 8, 2021,  leading to  courts and various State Houses of Assembly still remaining under lock and key contrary to the promise made by the two unions at  a further dialogue  which was attended by the President of the Nigerian Labour Congress.
“Unfortunately, all federal courts have  remained closed notwithstanding the fact that the Federal level of Government  operates a financial autonomy of the judiciary through the National Judicial Council (NJC) and the National Assembly through the statutory  transfer lines.”  The Minister said.
The statement noted that  many Governors need the State  Assemblies be opened so that they can enact  the  laws meant to give  effect to the autonomy as contained  in the MOA “ but we have advised all state governors that have consulted  with their  heads of judiciary and legislature  to go ahead and credit the accounts of judiciary and legislature before fine tuning the laws.”
“ We are worried  and therefore wish to appeal for the last time to all parties involved in the  signed agreement to abide by its spirit and letters, by  firstly re-opening all the courts and the State Houses of Assembly so that all other ingredients in the MOA  can be given full compliance by all parties concerned.
“This much was agreed to between JUSUN/ PASSAN and the Governors Forum at the last meeting  on Friday, June 4, 2021.”
The Minister noted that  with the courts closed , the police and other security agencies cannot  prosecute criminals, hoodlums and bandits  even  as the nation is faced with heightened insecurity.