Reps urge FG to prioritise judiciary funding

The House of Representatives Committee on Judiciary, on Tuesday urged the Federal Government to make funding of the judiciary a priority. Chairman of the committee, Rep. Aminu Shagari, made the call while the National Judicial Council (NJC) was defending its 2017 Budget before the committee in Abuja. Shagari said that the call for an increased […]

The House of Representatives Committee on Judiciary, on Tuesday urged the Federal Government to make funding of the judiciary a priority.

Chairman of the committee, Rep. Aminu Shagari, made the call while the National Judicial Council (NJC) was defending its 2017 Budget before the committee in Abuja.

Shagari said that the call for an increased budgetary allocation to the judiciary became necessary to enable that arm of government to adequately cater for its workers and operations.

He expressed concern that the 42.8 per cent increase proposed in the 2017 budget may not be sufficient for the needs of the judiciary.

He said that N70 billion was approved for the arm in 2016 while N100 billion was proposed in the 2017Appropriation Bill.

The chairman said that democracy and growth of the Nigerian economy had brought increased demand for more courts or special courts to handle increasing number of cases.

“It is obvious that the workload is much which is manifested in the delay in the hearing of cases.

“The implication of this is that the budget of the judiciary has to be increased proportionally to cope with the load.

“This will even be more so if special courts are established as some members of the public are presently agitating for,” he said.

He pointed out that while judiciary budget in six years remained relatively same, various courts and judicial bodies had during the period embarked on massive recruitment.

Shagari said that because there were no corresponding provisions for salaries of the new workers, the judiciary was compelled to fall back on its contingency votes to pay salaries and allowances.

According to him, the annual budget of the judiciary caters for the salaries and allowances of about 1,150 serving judicial officers in federal and state courts.

“It also caters for the gratuities, pensions and retirement benefits of about 400 retired judicial officers nationwide,” he added.

He said that paucity of funds had also inhibited the judiciary from meeting the global trend of accepting information and communication technology in management of cases and record keeping in courts.

Defending the proposal, Secretary of NJC, Mr Halilu Danladi, said that as at January, 2017, the council had attained 100 per cent performance of its 2016 budget.

He described the N100 billion proposed for the council’s activities in the 2017 Appropriation Bill as unprecedented, saying that if approved, would reduce the problems in the judiciary to barest minimum. (NAN)