Justices VS CJN: Luke calls for more funding of judiciary

Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Judiciary, Mr Onofiok Luke  has attributed the crisis in the judiciary to inadequate funding, poor welfare and working conditions of the judiciary. 

Luke who was a guest on Africa Independent Television AIT programme, Project Justice spoke on the subject, Justices vs CJN: The Role of the Executive in Underfunding the Judiciary.

The Lawmaker said it is saddening to know that comparatively judges in Nigeria earn far lower than their counterparts in Kenya. He added that the last time salaries and emoluments of judges were reviewed was 14years ago.

According to Luke, "the starting point is adequate funding of the judiciary through budgetary allocation, then we can go to deal with the internal issues"

"The Court of Appeal has 20 Divisions and today the Court of Appeal as it is presently constituted, is made of 86 Justices of the Court of Appeal and they all ought to have their staff vehicle and ought to have their back up vehicles, security vehicle, the Hilux van  to be able to carry their security. But of the 86 Justices of the Court of Appeal, it is saddening to know that it is only about 50 of those Justices that do have official vehicles and pilot. You have almost 36 left without back up vehicles", Luke added.

The Judiciary Committee Chairman, said that capital projects embarked upon by the judiciary have suffered delay in completion due to inadequate funds. "The challenges with  financing capital projects in the judiciary is that it is  piecemeal funding that are given to these projects, that a project that ought to have been done one year or maximum two years exiting, will take up to about 5 or 10 years".

"If budgetary allocation is not going to help deal with these issues, there is need for intervention fund. Budgetary allocation of #120b or #150b yearly in the course of  the next 10 years will not solve that problem. So there is need for a special intervention fund for the judiciary", Luke said.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Akwa Ibom Stakeholders reject Water Resources Bill

Image
Citizen M.K.O A group of Akwa Ibom stakeholders comprising of traditional rulers politicians, academic dons, entrepreneurs, clerics, students and persons from other fields of endeavours have rejected the controversial Water Resources Bill. Converging at the auditorium of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Akwa Ibom State Council in Uyo, over the weekend the stakeholders, in a communique issued at the end of extensive deliberations featuring clause-by-clause analysis of the Bill, dismissed the Bill, describing it as oppressive and exploitative. The bill which was initially introduced and later rejected by the lawmakers during the 8th Assembly following public outcry, was reintroduced in the current 9th National Assembly in 2020. Again, it is facing much backlash from Nigerians.  The stakeholders who convened under the aegis of 'Open Forum', an advocacy platform hosted by Citizen Matthew Koffi Okono, particularly condemned Section 98 of the Bill which states that, “the...
Read more

Akan Okon vs. Umo Eno: Prof Jideoni petitions security agencies against blogger for libel

Image
Professor Jideoni Charles, a Professor of Professor of Graphognomy (Handwriting Analysis), Professor of English Language, and a linguist, has petitioned security agencies against an Uyo based blogger, Wisdom Bassey, over alleged libel. Prof Jideoni had carried out forensic investigation into the West African Examination Council certificate tendered by the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Pastor Umo Eno, before the Federal High Court sitting in Uyo, in his case against governorship aspirant, Mr Akan Okon, and adjudged same as unoriginal. The petition, as sighted by newsmen over the weekend, condemned a "damaging false report carried out by one Mr Wisdom Bassey who works online with Newsline9ja.com on the account of slander and libel against me in a newspaper publication by GLOBAL PILOT earlier this year." According to the petition, Bassey acted on unverified false allegations, that Prof Jideoni was never a staff of Obafemi Awolowo University,...
Read more

We're doing quality dualization work on Calabar-Itu Highway - SEMARTECH

Image
* As Senator Ita Enang insists on timely completion By Ofonime Honesty SEMARTECH Nigeria Limited, a construction firm handling a section of dualization project of the Calabar-Itu Highway has highly rated work done so far by the company. Speaking when the immediate past Senior Special Assistant to the President on Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Ita Enang paid an unscheduled visit on the project site, SEMARTECH Site Supervisor, Engr. Joe Ukpata gave a breakdown of the company's involvement so far on the project and assured the governorship hopeful and the public that the firm is complying totally with global standards. "We are in charge of 28.6km of the project. Dualization is ongoing with drains and asphalt work. As we move further, we have four different bridges on our stretch which we are working on. SEMARTECH portion starts at the power plant Odukpani down to Oku Iboku, then Julius Berger continues from there. "The One Kilometer stretch from Oku Ib...
Read more