Ongoing Process Of Improving Judges Welfare Will Be Completed Soon – Malami
Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN has given the assurance that the ongoing process of improving the welfare package of the judicial officers will be completed in accordance with extant constitutional and statutory provisions.
Malami, who stated this stated this in an address at the 2022 Court of Appeal Annual Legal year, said that improvement in the remuneration and conditions of service of judicial officers remains uppermost on the agenda of President Muhammadu Buhari.
The Attorney General in a statement by his Special Assistant on Media and Public Relations, Dr. Umar Jibrilu Gwandu, noted that one of the cardinal issues raised by the President of the Court of Appeal last year was the issue of the welfare of the nation’s committed judicial officers.
Malami further said; “The government of the day is not oblivious of this persistent challenge. Amidst our revenue challenges as a nation, coupled with various demand for wage increase, one certain assurance I can make to this noble gathering is that the improvement of the remuneration and conditions of service of our judicial officers is uppermost on the agenda of President Muhammadu Buhari”.
He said the available appropriation figures also bear testament to the fact of a progressively upward review of annual budgetary appropriation to the judiciary under President Buhari.
The AGF noted while the budget of the Judiciary declined from N95billion in 2010 to N68billion in 2014, there was an upward swing in 2015 from N73billion to N120billion in 2022 being the highest in the history of the judiciary.
He also said that the government also makes special budgetary provision to cater for special assignments associated with national elections.
According to him; “The Federal Government under the leadership of President Buhari will not rest on its oars in its quest for increased funding for the judiciary”.
Malami commended the foresight of the President of the Court of Appeal in taking proactive steps towards an effective discharge of the onerous constitutional mandate over the outcome of elections.
He said these notable steps included engagement with relevant stakeholders, especially with the advent of the 2022 Electoral Act.
In the words of Malami; “I am also gladdened that His Lordship has inaugurated a 13-man Electoral Judicial Manual Committee (EJMC) that will see to the issuance of the Maiden Edition of the Electoral Judicial Manual, which will provide an operational framework and reference guide for the determination of election petitions.
“The Manual is expected to guide both the bar and the bench, with an added benefit of mitigating the problems associated with conflicting decisions,” he said.
