By Abdulwahab Abdulah

lagos—As the strike embarked upon by the judiciary workers, under the aegis of the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) lingers, Lagos State government has said it has filed an appeal against the judgment necessitating the strike.

This was made known at the weekend by the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Ade Ipaye, while the four branches of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in Lagos State met him to discuss the way out of the two-week old strike.

Judiciary workers across the country began an indefinite strike on January 5 to press home their demand for financial autonomy for the judiciary.

According to the workers, they are calling for the execution of a judgment of a Federal High Court granting financial autonomy for the judiciary in the country.

At the meeting, Ipaye disclosed that as one of the respondents in the suit filed against the government, they have decided to challenge the court judgment.

However, he noted that the state government was not against the independence of the judiciary, but the situation cannot warrant the workers decision to put the courts under lock and key.

At the end of their meeting, the members of the Bar called for an urgent resolution of the strike.

The plea by the lawyers from the private and official Bar (government lawyers) was contained in a communique issued at the end of their meeting.

The communique was signed by Ipaye, Mr Alex Mouka, Chairman, Lagos branch and Mr Yinka Farounbi, the Chairman of the Ikeja branch and others.