President Bola Tinubu has doubled funding for the nation’s judiciary to demonstrate his commitment towards making Nigeria’s steep economy tenable for jurists and other judicial officers
Of the N28.7 trillion 2024 Renewed Hope budget, Mr Tinubu set apart N342 billion for the judiciary, an over hundred per cent increase from the previous N162 billion earmarked for the legal staff.
“Funding the judiciary is a major element in our effort to support a just, rules-based society. Statutory transfer to the Judiciary has been increased from 165 billion naira to 342 billion naira,” presidential spokesperson, Ajuri Ngelale, quoted Mr Tinubu as saying.
Mr Tinubu signed the budget into law on Monday at the State House complex in Abuja, to usher in citizens into the new year in the presence of Senate President Godswill Akpabio, Speaker Tajudeen Abbas and Wale Edun who serves as finance and economy minister.
In times past, justices have begrudged internal leadership on the deplorable conditions under which courts were forced to function, particularly lack of proper funding which makes them easy preys for persons willing to offer bribes for favourable verdicts.
In one such case, the justices of the Supreme Court rebelled against the then-chief justice of Nigeria, Tanko Muhammad, and bemoaned the reduction in training opportunities and even the subpar treatment they receive on the few trainings they get to attend, which is nothing compared to what their overseas counterparts receive.
Similar accusations of corruption have dogged the tenure of current Chief Justice Kayode Ariwoola, with a retired jurist bitterly complaining of the subpar working conditions and the insignificant impact of the N165 billion allotted to the judiciary. With increase in funding, the judiciary is poised to surmount temptations of bribery and corruption under Mr Tinubu’s administration.
