A Kano State High Court has issued interim order restricting Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje from further deducting the salaries of judiciary workers.
The exparte application granted yesterday by Justice Usman Na’Abba also directed similar order against the Attorney General and commissioner for justice, commissioner for finance, Head of Service and Accountant General of the state, joined as defendants.
The application filed by Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN), Kano State Chapter, urged the court to restrict the defendants’ further action pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice.
The order also “directed the defendants, their agents or whomsoever acting on their behalf to comply with the agreement dated December 19, 2019, entered into between Kano State government and Joint Public Service Negotiating Council by paying the plaintiffs and JUSUN members their full salary scale under Consolidated Judicial Staff Salary Structure.”
In a statement issued by the state chairman of the union, Mukhtar Rabiu Lawan, he said the JUSUN had approached the court to seek redress on deduction from their November and December salaries.
Lawan alleged that the government slashed the salaries without any consultation with the workers and gave no reason, hence their resolve to seek justice. He called for reversal of all deductions from the salaries.
The case was then adjourned to January 28, 2021, for the hearing of the motion on notice. The Joint Negotiation Council (JNC) on Wednesday threatened to embark on industrial action if the government refused to stop further deduction from civil servants’ salaries.
Chairman of JNC, Comrade Hashim Saleh, issued the threat while reacting to government’s reversal to old N18,000 minimum wage in workers November and December 2020 salaries.
