Rivers State
The striking members of the Magistrates Association of Nigeria (MAN), Cross River chapter, has rejected the offer of the state government to provide 15 out of the 74 officials vehicles demanded.
Magistrate Solomon Abuo, Secretary of the association disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Calabar on Thursday.
Abuo also said that the government had remained silent on other demands made.
While affirming the continuation of the strike, he noted that the state chapter of the MAN had met with the government representatives twice within week.
He said that the association was still awaiting the final offer from the government following the last meeting held on Tuesday night.
According to him, there are 74 magistrates in the state, and the government only promised to provide 15 official vehicles by March ending, and this we consider too small and will create other challenges for the association.
“Alternatively, we requested that they provide 37 by March ending and the remaining 37 by the end of June or provide the entire 74 by May ending.
“On the issue of impress, we accepted the government offer of increasing the impress from N15, 000 a month to N100, 000, but with the condition that the payment starts immediately and backdated to January.
“The government also accepted our demand for burial assistance with N1.5m million.
“We lost three members in 2025 and the government had already paid one of the three families with a promise to pay the other two by Friday (tomorrow).”
Abuo, said that the government was however silent on the issue of accommodation for the magistrates and renovation of magistrate courts across the state.
“Because we understand that accommodation is a long term planing, we have asked that on the alternative, they pay each magistrate the sum of N2 million yearly,” he explained
The MAN secretary also said that the government remained silent on the demand for N500, 000 annually as wardrobe allowance for the magistrates.
It would be recalled that the MAN had on Monday resumed their suspended industrial action.
In the letter signed by its Chairman and Secretary, Godwin Onah and Solomon Abuo, respectively, the magistrates noted that the decision to resume the suspended strike was taken at its general meeting of January 30.
The association said that the government reneged on its earlier promised that led to the suspension of the industrial action. (NAN
