The battle to gain a fairer salary for our judges has moved to the National Industrial Court, and we hope the matter will get the deserved attention. In a suit by Chief Sebastien Tar, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), against the National Assembly (NASS), the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice and National Judicial Commission (NJC), as second, third and fourth defendants, respectively, the learned silk is seeking an enhanced salary and emoluments for the judges recognised by section 6 of the 1999 constitution (as amended).
The learned silk claims that being eminently qualified, he aspires to join the bench, either as a judge of the high court, or Justice of the Court of Appeal, or Justice of the Supreme Court, but that he has been discouraged by the poor pay structure of the judges, considering the socio-economic conditions of the country. He is also worried about the “the poor mode of determining or reviewing such salaries and allowances”.
We agree with the learned silk that the current pay structure of our judges is unfair when compared to the earning of the top members of the executive and legislative branches of government.
The learned silk is represented by 54 lawyers, made up of 32 senior advocates and 22 other lawyers. When the matter came up before Justice Osatohanmwen Obaseki-Osaghae, the lead counsel, Chief S. A. Awomolo, SAN, expressed the readiness of the claimant to argue its originating process before the court. However, he noted that the counsel to the NASS, Mr Charles Yiola, has informed him of the desire of his client to settle the matter amicably. Of note, the RMAFC, the Attorney-General of the Federation and NJC were not represented.
The claimant proposed the following salary structure for the judges: A minimum of N12 million for the Chief Justice of the Federation, and N11million for other Justices of the Supreme Court. For the President of the Court of Appeal, he proposed N11 million and N10 million for other justices of the same court. He proposed N10 million for the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, and N8 million for other judges of same court.
He further proposed N10 million for the President of the National Industrial Court, and N9 million naira for the other judges of the same court. For the chief judge of the state high court, he proposed N8 million as minimum, and N7 million for each of the other judges of the same court. He also proposed N8 million for the Grand Kadi Sharia Court of Appeal of FCT, and President of Customary Court of Appeal of FCT, respectively, and N7 million for their respective colleagues.
Currently, justices and judges earn about N2 million and below as their minimum monthly salaries. There is no doubt that the judges’ salaries and emoluments are miserable considering the job they do, and the socio-economic conditions of the country. We are aware that NASS, relying on its power over the Appropriation Bill creams off a huge part of the national resources for its members. The executive also uses its power to implement the Appropriation Act, to ensure that ministers and top echelons of the executive branch are well remunerated.
No doubt, the country stands to gain a lot from a well-paid, independent and fairly treated judiciary. For example, the democratic project would be endangered if the judicial officers are underpaid and exposed to corrupt enticement. Also, the economy remains entangled if there is no virile judiciary to deal decisively with commercial disputes. Again, the rights of citizens will be emasculated if the judiciary is exposed to the whims and caprices of the high and mighty.
So, we urge the RMAFC to work with the NASS to gift the judiciary a fairer salary and emolument for the benefit of everyone.