Chairman of the Port Harcourt Branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr Atuonye Amachree, has described the strike by the Judicial Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) as ill-timed.

Amachree told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Port Harcourt on Monday that the strike carried obvious negative consequences, noting that cases that ought to be disposed of in the year would spill over to next year.

The NBA chairman also said that a lot of persons on awaiting trial might spend longer time in custody because of the strike, which was observed by most branches of JUSUN in the country.

The union commenced an indefinite strike on November 2 to back up its demand for enhanced salary structure for its members.

The union had earlier in the year called out its members on strike on the same matter after which an agreement was reached between it and the government. "With the strike already entering the third week, most cases that would have been concluded before the end of this year will certainly spill over to next year.

"Another point of note is that people awaiting trail and those in police detentions are to suffer longer than required because of the strike," Amachree said. He said that in Rivers, stakeholders in the justice sector were already meeting in Port Harcourt on ways to end the impasse.

Amachree, who described the resurgence of strikes in the nation's polity as bad, said: "if things were done well, most issues that degenerate to strikes would have been avoided by government and the unions.

"Though I cannot say whether it is government or JUSUN that is failing its part of the agreement in this matter, my candid advice is that a union entering into agreements with government should enter workable agreements."

On the planned deregulation of the downstream sector, Amachree urged government to listen to the position of labour on the matter as the policy might cause more harm than good to the ordinary people.

"The ordinary Nigerian is already suffering a lot now; it will be unfair to add to their suffering by embarking on total deregulation of the downstream sector.

"Government should try to shoulder the burden for now and think of deregulation later," he said.