Despite N120bn 2022 allocation, Judiciary stil ‘under-funded’

From Bolaji Robert, Lagos   Nigeria’s 2022 proposed budget of N16.39 trillion allocates an envelope of N120 billion for the judiciary, which is a 9 per cent increase on the current year’s budget of N110 billion. Reports project that inflation may reach over 13 per cent in the 2022 budget year and that in the […]

From Bolaji Robert, Lagos

 

Nigeria’s 2022 proposed budget of N16.39 trillion allocates an envelope of N120 billion for the judiciary, which is a 9 per cent increase on the current year’s budget of N110 billion.

Reports project that inflation may reach over 13 per cent in the 2022 budget year and that in the past three years, the judiciary’s budget remained static at N110 billion even within the context of double-digit inflationary pressures.

The Executive Secretary of the National Judicial Council (NJC), Ahmed Saleh, stated that some of the challenges facing the judiciary include the non-disbursement of the financial relief promised in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said adequate funding for the judiciary is necessary because “without an independent, viable and vibrant judiciary, the rule of law is imperilled, democracy is imperilled and even development is imperilled.”

Investigations reveal that budgetary allocations to the judiciary have been declining in quantity and percentage share of the national budget. While the 2010 allocation of N95 billion to the Judiciary represented 2.2 per cent of that year’s budget, in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015, the nation’s budget shares for the judiciary were N85bn (1.8 per cent) N75bn (1.7 per cent), N67bn (1.3 per cent), N68bn (1.3 per cent) and N73bn (1.6 per cent) respectively. 

The N70 billion budgeted for the judiciary in 2016 (out of the N6.08 trillion total proposals) was 1.1 per cent.

Judiciary budgetary figures for 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021 show a decline to below 1.0 per cent just as that of the 2021 fiscal year of N110 billion out of a total budget of N13.08 trillion is 0.84 per cent, which is because, while the nation’s total budget increases, that of the third arm of government remains constant at N110 billion.

Joseph Otteh and ‘Deji Ajare, convener and project director, Access to Justice, respectively said over the weekend that “it is not clear yet what aspects of the judiciary’s budget would represent capital votes, and what kind of capital projects are accommodated by the budget.

“In the course of budget defence, the judiciary alluded to the fact that more appointments were made to fill the Supreme Court and other courts, as justification for increased funding.”

The judiciary’s budget, according to them, covers the salaries of superior court judges, as well as the recurrent and capital expenditures of federal judiciaries.

According to NJC’s records, judges all over the country at the federal and states judicial service earn approximately N8.7 billion as salaries and allowances per annum.

This is made up of over 1,071 judicial officers, both at the federal and state levels, who are on the payroll of the NJC. They include the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN); other Justices of the Supreme Court (now increased from 12 to 20); and President of the Court of Appeal (PCA) and other justices of the Court of Appeal

Others are Justices of the Federal High Court, Federal Capital Territory High Court, National Industrial Court, Sharia Court of Appeal and Customary Court of Appeal and their heads, as well as over 819 State Judicial Officers, made up of 70 heads of the court (that is, 36 chief judges, 17 Grand Khadis, and 17 Presidents of Customary Court of Appeal); and 744 judicial officers.

Impact of judicial budget

Discontent over the composition of individual parts of the proposed budget, according to Joseph Otteh, is tempered by the fact that about a third of the budget is supplied by projected borrowing which has its own consequences for the nation’s future.

“In real terms, however, the judiciary’s budget declines yet further even using the nominal budget figures, at a time when there is such an overwhelming need to re-articulate the structure of how judicial and legal services delivered in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and its toll on the administration of justice,” he said.

“Most courts were shut for a considerable part of 2020 as a result of measures announced by federal and state governments to manage the pandemic and it took several months for courts nationwide to resume operations. Unfortunately, Nigerian courts are, even up to this time, not quite prepared to weather another storm if an exigency arises tomorrow”.

Otteh also said the budget for the judiciary, remaining relatively stagnant, will not likely place it in a favourable position to put its best foot forward in the prevailing circumstances.

“The envelope will not probably support courts to invest in the technology required to explore and adapt to digital justice delivery systems, automate court operations, and build local capacity to navigate the transition to a more robust justice delivery landscape in order to stay ahead of the curve of the pandemic, irrespective of whatever wave is prevailing at any given time”.

Similarly, Deji Ajare said “following the two-month Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) strike that also shut down courts, a large backlog of cases has accrued in various courts, alongside new causes that awaited the resumption of courts, all of which are causing congestion and delays. 

“If the judiciary does not take innovative action to reinforce or amplify its current set of operational tools, it could take several years to resolve non-complex litigations in Nigeria.”

 Judiciary has not made a good case

A source, who does not want his name in print said the judiciary has not done enough to set out its case for “special” funding.

“It has not effectively shown that past investment in IT expected to produce significant returns in delivering justice more efficiently have borne fruit. 

“The judiciary has not articulated a portrait of what its justice delivery vision is, alongside its ideas for achieving that vision, nor built stakeholder consensus on that vision, which could have helped to galvanize key stakeholder and political buy-in and support.

“Rather the judiciary’s language has centred majorly on requiring infrastructure spending to support the appointment of judges.

“Sadly, President Buhari, who has variously lamented his frustration with the judiciary and spoken of the dire need to reform it, and ensure that trials are speedily concluded, has not matched rhetoric with action, beyond the fact that he has used strong-arm tactics to remove a sitting chief justice and politicize the appointments of Supreme Court justices,” he said.

Ultimately, the 2022 budget, according to A2J, may likely not produce a game-changing feat in the way Nigeria’s system of justice administration functions, so there is not much to cheer about it. 

Notwithstanding this shoe-string budget, A2J said the judiciary can find spaces within its body to make significant progress in making the delivery of justice more efficient, affordable and satisfactory to Nigerians. 

Senior lawyers have also decried the low provision for the judiciary in the 2022 appropriation describing it as a “paltry sum”.

Some of them said the allocation for the judiciary is too small considering the challenge of justice delivery viz-a-viz the coronavirus pandemic.

According to Asiwaju Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN), Nigeria’s post-COVID-19 judiciary requires massive investment in critical infrastructure in terms of recruitment and remuneration of judges as well as Information Communication Technology (ICT) to fast-track adjudication of cases.

 Awomolo said the judiciary pre-COVID cannot be said to be the same after because the new normal has thrown up the imperativeness of the use of Information Communication Technology as a tool to achieve the quick administration of justice, whether criminal or civil.

“But the truth is that it appears that the executive has not realized the need to take a critical look at the gap in the infrastructure, training of personnel and the application of ICT in the judiciary,” he stated.