Judges’ poor salary should be Buhari’s headache – Ozekhome

Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN, has said that the poor remuneration and unfavourable conditions of service for judicial officers should be President Buhari’s headache, not the judges themselves. Ozekhome stated this over the weekend in a statement entitled “When Hungry and Starved Judges Dispense Justice: What Manner of Country is this? Meagre Remuneration of Judicial Officers’. […]

Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN, has said that the poor remuneration and unfavourable conditions of service for judicial officers should be President Buhari’s headache, not the judges themselves.
Ozekhome stated this over the weekend in a statement entitled “When Hungry and Starved Judges Dispense Justice: What Manner of Country is this? Meagre Remuneration of Judicial Officers’.
He called on the presidency, RMFC, NASS and all those responsible, to better the lot of judicial officers, increase their salaries and allowances and provide them retirement homes.
This call is coming on the heels of the fact that virtually all superior court judges (about 1,050 judges), including the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Mahmoud Mohammed, last received salaries December 15 last year.
Ozekhome lamented that the meagre salaries and dismal conditions of service for judicial officers were appalling.
“Yet, the same judiciary has become the whipping child of the executive that accuses it of corruption, without any scintilla of evidence to that effect. It is a deliberate attempt to annex the judiciary to the apron strings of the executive,” he said.
According to him, justices of the Supreme Court earn – N700,000 per month; justices of the Court of Appeal, N600,000 per month; Chief Judge, Federal and States High Courts, N530,000 per month; High Court judges, N500,000  per month; Customary Court of Appeal judges, N500,000 per month; Khadis of Sharia Court of Appeal, N500,000 per month; National Industrial Court judges, N500,000 per month while a permanent secretary in any government ministry earns about N1 million per month.
“The Secretary of the National Judicial Council (NJC) and Secretary, Federal Judicial Service Commission (FJSC) who are at par with a permanent secretary, earn N1 million per month, much higher than their ‘ogas’, justices of the Supreme Court, who wade and  ache through tons of appellate briefs to dispense justice to all manner of people, without fear or favour,” Ozekhome said.
“Judges constitute the judiciary, the third arm of government. They have wives, school children, dependants, etc. How are they expected to live on N500,000 per month?” he said.
He said that for retirement accommodation, only Chief Justices of Nigeria retire to a house built for them by government. All other justices of the Supreme Court, Court of Appeal and Federal, High Court and Sharia Courts retire to no homes.
Many occupants of these hallowed citadels of justice, according to him, are forced to become tenants in decrepit apartments in city suburbs, such as Lugbe, Gwagwalada, Kuje and Keffi. Luckier ones who are aided by their rich family members find themselves owning apartments in the same estates as people they probably tried or judged their cases while on the bench, thus subjecting them to indignities, ridicule and danger.
“Yet these selfless, hardworking judges are again daily insulted, abused and tongue-lashed like primary school pupils over alleged poor performance, corruption and miscarriage of justice by politicians who lose their cases, no matter the demerit of such cases.
“That the executive has joined in this arm-twisting, brow-beating, intimidating, unconscionable and abusive antics of politicians leaves a sour taste in the mouth,” he said.