‘Technical panel should work out judicial financial autonomy in states’

Abia State is among the states where judicial workers went to strike over the autonomy of courts. What is the government doing about this?Judicial workers were on strike in Abia but there is a resolution and they have all resumed. I am sure you know that the strike was a nationwide thing; the issues that […]

Abia State is among the states where judicial workers went to strike over the autonomy of courts. What is the government doing about this?
Judicial workers were on strike in Abia but there is a resolution and they have all resumed. I am sure you know that the strike was a nationwide thing; the issues that led to the strike are not isolated. The JUSUN got a court judgment on autonomy of the judiciary. What I understand that to mean is for the judiciary to be self-accounting; funds appropriated to the states should be given to them. And it affected both the states and federal courts. For us as a body of attorneys general, we are not opposed to financial autonomy for the judiciary because being lawyers and as attorneys general, our duty is to advice our states correctly, and I do know that it is proper for the judiciary to be autonomous. That is why even at the forum of attorneys general, we said there was no point appealing against that judgement; so we are in agreement with JUSUN.
Does it mean you will comply with JUSUN’s demands?
After the judgement was given, the federal government and most states did not comply with that judgment. So the CJN intervened and convened a meeting of attorneys general. He met with other stakeholders such as the NBA, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation; there were series of meetings. At the end of it all, the CJN appealed to JUSUN to go back to work and that any state that gives the commitment that they will comply with the judgement, JUSUN should go back to work. And that was what happened in the case of Abia.
How autonomous is the judiciary in the states, because we hear they receive handouts from the executive?
That is what happens in practical terms. For me as a lawyer, I think that is unacceptable. The judiciary must be independent in all aspects. A situation where the chief judge of a state would be going cap in hand to the executive asking for money is not proper for our democracy.
But some states blame their meagre allocations for the development?
That is where the problem lies. That judgement has been delivered but I think there is need for the heads of court, the chief accounting officers who are the chief registrars of the courts and the accountants-general of the states to come to a round table to look for ways of actually implementing that court judgement. That is the aspect I am not very much in agreement with JUSUN on their approach to it. I have been in government and I know what comes monthly and when you make budgets, you don’t make monthly budgets; budgets are made for the whole year. If you say certain monthly provisions are meant for the judiciary, at what point do you get out the whole chunk? You discover that at the end of every month, especially with what is happening in the economy, there won’t be any money to give to anybody after payment of salaries.  
Those are the bottlenecks, that is why all the technical persons should come together to agree on the way forward. If it is quarterly, let the judiciary be getting quarterly funds from the state governments.
The general understanding is that the funds should be at first line charge to the National Judicial Council (NJC) which in turn remits to the various state judiciaries?
You know we run a federation, so the states to a large extent are autonomous from the centre. You can’t talk of NJC dipping its hands into the federal allocations for states except the constitution is amended. The constitution recognises only the federal, states and local governments as the three tiers that can draw money from the federation accounts. The most practical way of doing it, like in Abia, is that a percentage is given to the judiciary from the state allocation.
Does it mean Abia is among states that will be conducting election petition tribunals?
Yes. Abia is not affected by the strike and the election tribunals are in place in the state. Our courts are open and the tribunals are gearing up and the support staff is ready.
Some lawyers are still debating the mode of appointment of judges in Nigeria. What is your opinion on this?
The body that appoints judges is the National Judicial Council. That body has the best highest resource materials in the country. So to that extent it is a highly revered body. Lawyers have their rights to complain, but I can assure you by virtue of my position as the AG of my state, I am a member of the Judicial Service Committee, and we make recommendations as to the appointment of judges.
Recently, there has been a review; there are new conditions or guidelines for the appointment of judges just released. The ongoing appointments at the federal courts, I am sure they would toe that line. I understand they have introduced a situation where people can make comments on the character of would-be judges. Apart from that an interview would be conducted where they would check the individual’s temperament, comportment and knowledge of the law, which hitherto we hadn’t. So it is an improvement and we are getting there. You can’t have a perfect system.
Some lawyers are saying that career progression should not be automatic for judges, that a judge’s position which becomes vacant should be advertised?    
We attach so much importance to seniority in the legal profession even among lawyers. Once somebody is called before you, you defer to that person. I think it helps the order in the system. I know that there is nothing in the law that the most senior should be the chief judge. In some states, we have had issues where they jumped the numbers, but at the federal level they have been consistent in following that order. It is like a command system. If you go to the Supreme Court, you see the way they sit.
There are suggestions that practice of internal democracy is not deep-rooted in our political parties, which poses a threat to our democracy?
There are such complaints and I think that is one of the reasons why the PDP had the poor showing; it is also in APC. There were a lot acrimony from within arising from the primaries where popular candidates where jettisoned for other candidates for one reason or the other. Internal democracy is that party members have a say on the best choice as candidate. My view is that following what has happened in this election, Nigeria cannot be the same again. There are changes in some places and those who were brought in the change will give account in the next four years.