Nigeria At 60: What Offence Does The Judiciary Commit To Warrant Low And Poor Emoluments?!

By Hameed Ajibola Jimoh Esq.

As Nigeria celebrates her 60^th Independence Day Anniversary, a lot have been said about Nigeria politically by all and sundry. However, there is need at this junction, to evaluate the democratic principles that Nigeria operates with over these years till 60 years of independence and to see how far does the judiciary (which is a strong pole in the assurance and actualization of democracy) and to consider the manner and to what extent that the judiciary being one of the arms of government has been affected by poor governance and poor welfares all across the nation. When I read a publication published by Leadership online of the 6^th day of May, 2019, titled ‘Nigeria: Concerns As Judges’ Salaries Remain Static for 12 Years’ in the course of my research on this topic, then, I wondered what exactly does the judiciary commit as offence to warrant low and poor emoluments compared with the emoluments of the other two arms of government (i.e. the executive and the legislators)?! These judicial emoluments are even worst for those Magistrates and Area Courts/Customary court’s (inferior courts of records) as they could barely survive the economic hardship, hence this paper. Also, this paper calls for an immediate review upward of the salaries, allowances and other emoluments of all judicial officers (including the inferior courts of record) in Nigeria by the National Assembly (and the State Government where applicable) and submits humbly that the “Certain Political, Public and Judicial Office Holders (Salaries and Allowances, etc) (Amendment) Act of 2008” is overdue for an amendment and or repeal and re-enactment to the advantages of judicial officers in Nigeria, as we all celebrate Nigeria at 60 and so that it does not amount to an assumption that the judiciary is under a punishment for a particular offence or the other that it has committed that warrant the National Assembly (or the other two arms of government) to mete out such devastating punishment on it.

First and foremost, the word ‘Democracy’ according to President Abraham Lincoln, the then President of the United States of America, is ‘a government of the people, by the people and for the people’. In other words, ‘Democracy’ is: (i) a government made up of the generality or representatives of the people; (ii) a government formed and installed by the people; and (iii) a government that exists for the welfare of the people’. See: Ese Malemi, The Nigerian Constitutional Law, Princeton Publication Co., Ikeje, Lagos, Nigeria, First Edition, 2006, page: 30, (and for emphasis here, I believe the welfare for the judiciary inclusive!). There is no doubt that in Nigeria, as of the moment, the types of democracy practiced is ‘the Indirect/Representative Democracy,’ which is a system of democracy where all persons of voting age are expected to vote to form the government by electing persons into government who will represent and act on their behalf, especially in the executive and legislative arms of government, which elected persons are expected to properly constitute all the other organs and agencies of government, and generally manage the affairs of government for the welfare of the people’. See: Ese Malemi (op cit) at page 31. As has been said above, government is then a joint function of: (i) the Executive; (ii) Legislature; (iii) and the Judiciary. In other words, the welfares of all the arms of government must be equally and duly rated without any discrimination as what I have observed in the current judiciary’s emoluments is a discrimination against the welfare of the judiciary by the other two arms of government! Furthermore, democracy seems to human rights activists and or lawyers a better alternative for Nigeria, after her experiences with the Military Forces of the Military leadership. According to section 14 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended)- herein after referred to as the Constitution-, the democratic principles are well laid down as follows (which means that democracy in Nigeria is more a constitutional concept than it appears as an academic discourse): 14.—(1) The Federal Republic of Nigeria shall be a State based on the principles of democracy and social justice. (2) It is hereby, accordingly, declared that— (a) sovereignty belongs to the people of Nigeria from whom government through this Constitution derives all its powers and authority; (b) the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government; and (c) the participation by the people in their government shall be ensured in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution. (3) The composition of the Government of the Federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity, and also to command national loyalty thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few States or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that government or in any of its agencies. (4) The composition of the Government of a State, a Local Government council, or any of the agencies of such Government or council, and the conduct of the affairs of the Government or council or such agencies shall be carried out in such manner as to recognise the diversity of the people within its area of authority and the need to promote a sense of belonging and loyalty among all the peoples of the Federation.’.

Furthermore, from my observation of Nigeria’s democracy, the judiciary has been practically rendered unimportant. Even from the emoluments budgeted for the judiciary (whereas according to a publication published by thenigerialawyer.com on the 2^nd day of October, 2020, titled ‘Each Rep Gets N8.5m every month- aside salaries: Rep member’, wherein, a member representing Kaltungo/Shongom Gombe Federal Constituency, Hon. Simon Karu, was reported to have said that members of the House of Representatives receive about N9.3 Million monthly as emoluments, to include their monthly salary and office running costs, meaning that each of the Representative members receives: N8.5. million as monthly running costs/allowances and N800,000.00 monthly salaries!), one would then observe that out of the three arms of government, despite the independence of each of them, the judiciary suffers more than any of each of them. The truth is that if the democracy must thrive in Nigeria, the judiciary must be well equipped and in fact, protected (including with better welfare) by the other two arms of government. The judiciary is the last hope of the common man. Where it suffers, it then means that the common man too would definitely suffer untold injustice. That is why some persons talk about corruption in the judiciary but they never see through the veil (though corruption is not an excuse) to see how and what welfare challenges does the judiciary have! I therefore advise that all the three arms of government must work together to achieve and sustain a true democracy and better welfare for the judiciary.

Furthermore, the number of justices and judges in our Nigerian courts has been so few that it is enough for the judiciary to be frustrated by the number of cases and tasks upon it to decide. The National Assembly has not deemed it fit to amend the Constitution to increase these numbers (even those appointments pending are fought by unnecessary delays!). What would the courts do?! Yet, the courts are still trying their best to deal with the overwhelming situation with great discomfort (and despite the poor welfare)!. The common man who has approached the court of law has always been the one to suffer indirectly from the discomfort and poor welfare inherited by the judiciary from the Nigeria’s democratic system over these 60 years of independence.

For instance, the following were published by Leaderhsip online news By Ahuraka Isah, on the 6^th day of May, 2019, titled ‘Nigeria: Concerns As Judges’ Salaries Remain Static for 12 Years’ ‘A compilation of the annual remunerations of all the 1,067 judges in Nigeria revealed the sum of N8.7billion, the least earned by any of three arms of government. The figure is also, a sharp contrast of the N24billion voted in the 2019 budget as severance package for members of the outgoing 8th National Assembly members. With the recent resignation of the chief justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen and Justice Sidi Dauda Bage of the Supreme Court, the total number of judges in the country may have dropped to 1,065. While Justice Bage resigned after his appointment as the new Emir of Lafia in Nasarawa State on March 25, 2019, Justice Onnoghen took his exit on April 4, 2019 following the recommendations of the National Judicial Commission (NJC) on April 3, 2019 to President Muhammadu Buhari to compulsorily retire him. Impeccable judicial sources disclosed to LEADERSHIP that the last time the judges’ salaries and allowances were increased was in 2007 following the enactment of the “Certain Political, Public and Judicial Office Holders (Salaries and Allowances, etc) (Amendment) Act of 2008” which came into force on February 1, 2007. The law had repealed a similar Act of 2002 to create room for the increase of judges’ basic salaries, allowances and fringe benefits in 2007. From that time till date, there has not been an upward review of the earnings of judges, the sources said. LEADERSHIP recalls that there are no senior, junior or probating judges within the same court of coordinate jurisdiction. Judges are only promoted from a lower to a higher court, like from the High Court to Court of Appeal and to the Supreme Court if there are vacancies occasioned by retirement, resignation or removal. Under the “Certain Political, Public and Judicial Office Holders (Salaries and Allowances, etc) (Amendment) Act, 2008”, the CJN’s annual basic salary is N3,353,972.50 (or N279,497.71 monthly), while other Justices of the Supreme Court and the President of the Court of Appeal receive N2,477,110 as basic annual salary or N206,425.83 monthly. The Justices of the Court of Appeal, Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Chief Judge of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court and President of the Industrial Court, Grand Khadi of State and FCT Sharia Court of Appeal, President FCT and State Customary Court of Appeal earn annual basic salary of N1, 995,430.18 each. Also, judges of the Federal, State and FCT High Courts, National Industrial Court, Khadi Sharia Court of Appeal in the FCT and State; and FCT and State Customary Courts also earn an annual basic salary of N1,804,740 each. The Act also specifies the allowances and fringe benefits payable to judicial officers at the federal and states which are predicated on the annual basic salaries on a percentage basis. The law lists such allowances as accommodation, utilities, domestic staff, entertainment, medical, security, furniture, personal assistance, motor vehicle loan, severance/gratuity and retirement benefits. Others are leave allowance, motor vehicle maintenance and fuel, hardship, newspapers, estacode, duty tour, outfit and special assistant allowances. The Act states that the accommodation, medical, security and special assistant allowances and benefits won’t be paid but provided by the NJC. While the furniture allowance is paid every four years, the leave allowance is earned yearly. The car loan facility is optional; it is a benefit noticed more on paper than what actually gets to the beneficiaries, according to a serving judge, who did not want to be mentioned. While the CJN earns $2,000 estacode when he travels abroad, other Supreme Court Justices and the President of the Court of Appeal earns $1,300 of estacode each. Other judges earn between $600 and $1,100 estacode each. In the event of retirement, the judges’ benefits from CJN down the line are based on the scheme of service. These earnings, according to the Act are exclusive of tax. When the basic salary, allowances and fringe benefits are computed and posted, the CJN and other Justices of the Supreme Court receive a monthly salary of N480, 766.89 and N751, 000 in their bank accounts respectively. The CJN’s net monthly salary is lower than his brother Justices because of deductions made on account of other monetary and material provisions such as food items, which are provided for him by the federal government. Contrary to reports on the nation’s judicial officers’ earnings annually, LEADERSHIP discovered from NJC records that all the judges in the country receive a gross income of N8, 654,954,541.97 or N8.7 billion. While N2, 256, 351, 435.33 ( that is N2.3billion) was paid to the 248 federal judicial officers including the CJN in 2018, the sum of N6, 398, 303, 106.64 (N6.4billion) was paid as salaries and allowances to 819 state judicial officers. This brings the total pay for both the federal and state judicial officers to N8.7billion yearly. A further breakdown showed that the 248 federal judicial officers comprise the CJN, other Justices of the Supreme Court; President of the Appeal Court, other Justices of the appellate court; Justices of the Federal High Court, FCT High Court, National Industrial Court, Sharia Court of Appeal and Customary Court of Appeal, and their heads. Also, the 819 judicial officers in the 36 states comprise 70 heads of the courts (that is 36 chief judges, 17 grand khadis and 17 presidents of Customary Court of Appeal); and 744 judicial officers. In 2015, N7 billion was appropriated for the Supreme Court by the National Assembly, of which N304, 137,542.21 was allocated to “consolidated salary of the Justices” of the apex court, N1,122,909,366.76 , N2,795,953,091.03 and N2,777,000,000 were voted for the Supreme Court staff salary, overhead and capital respectively. In other words, the Supreme Court staff salary appropriation was almost four times those of the Justices of the apex court. In the same year, the Appeal Court got N11.10billion, comprising N1.214billion consolidated salary for the Justices of the appellate court, N2, 699billion for personnel, N4.699b overheads (including election tribunal) and N2.496billion capital expenditure. For the Federal High Court, FCT High Court, National Industrial Court and Customary Court of Appeal (FCT), these are disbursements during the period under review: N12.1billion, N7billion, N5.6billion, and N3.05billion respectively. In a cross-country appraisal of the salaries of judges, LEADERSHIP discovered that the salaries and purchasing power of Nigeria judges and their counterparts abroad and even in some African countries are wide apart. For instance, in the United State of America (USA), while the Chief Justice John Roberts earns $255,500 (or N118, 807,500) per year, the eight associate justices earn a healthy pay raise to $244,400 (N113, 646,000). The current salary for the US Supreme Court justices is significantly higher than the average salaries earned in related occupations. The President of the Supreme Court, Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland, Lord President of the Court of Session and Master of the Rolls make up Group 1.1 of the scale on £214,165 (N128,070,670), below only the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, who earns £239,845 (N143,427,310). In South Africa, according to the latest report of the Independent Commission for the Remuneration of Public Office Bearers, chaired by Judge Willie Seriti, the judges in the high and labour courts earn annual salaries of R1.4-million (or N46.9million). Judge-presidents (heads of court) pocket R1.6million (N53.6million) a year, Constitutional and Supreme Court judges get R1.7-million (N56.9million and the chief justice earns R2.3-million (N77million). The package of the president of the Supreme Court is just over R2million a year. When they retire, judges are entitled to continue drawing their salary and other benefits, which continue to qualify for an annual increase.’.

Furthermore, I am compelled to view that the emoluments of the Magistrates, Area Courts and Customary courts too are affected by the poor emoluments of the superior courts’ officers (i.e. Justices and the judges)! Therefore, I humbly recommend a holistic analysis, study and review of the judicial system, the court’s practices, and the entitlements of the judiciary so as to keep the judiciary on the same pedestal with each of the other arms of government in the interest of justice and that of democracy. We all canvass for fight against corruption in the judicial system but we have spoken just very little about the condition of the judiciary in Nigeria which requires an urgent improvement!

Finally, I trust that necessary steps would be taken to increase the morale of judicial officers of both the superior and the inferior courts of records by an urgent and immediate rise in the emoluments so as to build more of their sacrifices to serve their father-land!

Long live the Federal Republic of Niger! God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria!

Email: hameed_ajibola@yahoo.com