Tinubu Requests More Pay And Benefits For Judges In A Letter To The NASS

In a letter, President Bola Tinubu asked the National Assembly to approve a new measure that would give judicial officers nationwide more pay and benefits.

Speaker Abbas Tajudeen read the letter aloud in plenary on Tuesday, March 19.

The goal of the proposed law is to set compensation, allowances, and other ancillary benefits for judges.

Prior to this, there has been a push for recent improvements to the nation's judicial officials' pay, benefits, and other benefits packages.

“A Bill for an Act to Prescribe the Salaries, Allowances and Fringe Benefits of Judicial Office Holders in Nigeria and for Related Matters” was the title of the Executive bill that the President forwarded.

Dated March 19, 2024, the letter from the President was headed “Transmission of the judicial office holders salaries and allowances etc bill 2024."

It read: “In accordance with the provisions of Section 58(2) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, (as amended), I forward, herewith, the Judicial Office Holders (Salaries and Allowances, Etc) Bill, 2024 for the kind consideration of the House of Representatives.

“The Judicial Office Holders (Salaries and Allowances, Etc) Bill, 2024 seeks to prescribe salaries, allowances and fringe benefits for judicial officers, to end the prolonged stagnation in their remuneration and to reflect contemporary socio-economic realities.

“The bill, which establishes a new legal framework for the remuneration of judicial officers, will also ensure significant improvement in the welfare, capacity and independence of the judiciary.

“Whilst I hope that the Judicial Office Holders (Salaries and Allowances, etc) Bill, 2024 will be carefully yet expeditiously considered and passed by the House of Representatives, please accept, Rt Hon Speaker, the assurances of my highest esteem.”

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The Secretary of the National Judicial Council and the Ministers of Finance, Budget, and National Planning were invited by the House of Representatives Committee on Judiciary on Monday, March 18, to discuss the inadequate compensation of judges nationwide.

The National President of the Judicial Staff Union of Nigeria, the Chairman of the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission, the Chairman of the Nation's Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission, the Attorney General of the Federation, the Minister of Justice, and the President of the Nigeria Bar Association are also invited to the meeting, which is scheduled for Monday, March 25, 2024.

Justices of the Supreme Court were underpaid, retiring Justice Musa Dattijo of the Supreme Court had disclosed during a farewell court session held in his honor.

“It may interest one to know that the Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court earns more than the Justices. While she earns N1.2m per month, justices take home N751, 000 in a month.

“The CJN, on his part takes home N400,000 plus. The salary of a Justice, curiously, drops rather than increases when he gets the added responsibility of being a CJN.

“That the unjust and embarrassing salary difference between the justices and the Chief Registrar still abides remains intriguing to say the least,” Justice Dattijo had said