FG cuts Judiciary budget by N91bn

Documents seen by Daily Trust indicate that whereas the total budget proposal prepared and submitted to the Budget Office of the Federation through the Federal Ministry of Finance last year was N159.8 billion, the government reduced it to N68 billion.The Joint National Assembly Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters led by Senator Umaru […]

Documents seen by Daily Trust indicate that whereas the total budget proposal prepared and submitted to the Budget Office of the Federation through the Federal Ministry of Finance last year was N159.8 billion, the government reduced it to N68 billion.
The Joint National Assembly Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters led by Senator Umaru Dahiru (APC, Sokoto) yesterday told finance minister Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala that the continued decline in budgetary allocation to the Judiciary portends great danger to the administration of justice in Nigeria.
Senator Dahiru argued that the committee decided to summon the finance minister after it received representations from heads of courts and judicial bodies for explanation on the “sharp decline in the 2014 budget.”
“The decline in their budget should not have come now because of the importance of the 2015 election to this nation. There is going to be pre and post-election matters and there are new offenses now to our body of law,” the lawmaker argued.
The finance minister, who was represented by the Director General of the Budget Office, Dr. Bright Okogu, agreed that the Judiciary was being underfunded.
Okogu however insisted that the reduction in the figure was not deliberate but informed by many factors such as the increase in the general wage bill of the nation.
He said the adjustment in the budget touched all arms of government and the Judiciary is not an exception, adding that the minister had met with leadership of the Judiciary with the hope of providing more funds.
But when the committee asked him to make definite statement as to whether the allocation would be increased, the DG budget office said he had no word on it but will brief Okonjo-Iweala.