Increased Wages For Judicial Officers

Nigerian judges are set to receive significantly higher wages than they currently earn. In the Judicial Office Holders Salaries and Allowances Bill recently signed into law by President Bola Tinubu, judicial officers in the country will receive a 300 percent increase in their salaries.

The House of Representatives passed the bill in March this year, and the Senate followed suit in June. The new salaries and allowances will take effect from January 1, 2024, with provisions already captured in the 2024 appropriation.

According to the new law, the head of the judiciary, the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), will now receive N64 million annually and N5.39 million monthly. Fellow Supreme Court justices will receive N5,046,308 monthly, while the President of the Court of Appeal will take home N5,211,541 monthly. Other judicial heads—such as the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, President of the National Industrial Court, Chief Judge of the FCT High Court, Grand Kadi of the FCT Sharia Court of Appeal, President of the FCT Customary Court of Appeal, Chief Judge of State High Courts, Grand Kadi of State Sharia Courts of Appeal, and Presidents of the State Customary Courts of Appeal—will take home N4,192,597 monthly. Judges in various trial courts will receive N3,671,272.84.

Altogether, the CJN will now receive N152,127,582.84 annually in salaries and other allowances. This excludes the $2,000 estacode (per night), a duty tour allowance of N142,500 (per night), and a motor vehicle loan of N53,850,471.80 (to be repaid before the end of tenure). The CJN will also receive a severance gratuity of N80,775,707.70 upon successful completion of his term.

Other justices of the Supreme Court will collect a gross annual sum of N134,802,161.39 in salaries and regular allowances, including furniture allowance. Official figures show that the President of the Court of Appeal will receive N136,804,840.24 annually, in addition to a duty tour allowance of N100,000 (per night), an estacode of $1,300 (per night), a motor vehicle loan of N39,653,576.88, and a severance gratuity of N29,740,182.66 after a successful tenure.

As a newspaper, we applaud the President Tinubu administration for addressing the injustice done to this class of workers, who had been earning the same wages for the last 17 years since the last review, despite the onerous and sensitive work they do, and the steep depreciation in the value of the naira.

In October 2023, retiring Supreme Court Justice Dattijo Muhammad, in his valedictory address, referenced the systemic pitfalls in the third arm of government, including the poor conditions under which justices of the apex court work.

He wrote: “It may interest one to know that the Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court earns more than the justices. While she earns N1.2 million per month, justices take home N751,000 per month. The CJN, on his part, takes home N400,000 plus. Curiously, the salary of a justice drops rather than increases when he takes on the added responsibility of being the CJN.”

Now that judges will begin to receive fair wages for their work, it is incumbent upon them to improve their current levels of efficiency, effectiveness, probity, and accountability. The third arm of government must utilize this opportunity to clean up the decrepit reputation it has garnered in recent times due to pervasive corruption among its officers, nepotism, cronyism, lack of accountability, and partisanship within its top hierarchy. It is very concerning that the judiciary is now regularly mentioned among institutions steeped in corruption and the perversion of justice.

A 2019 survey conducted by the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) found that corruption in the Nigerian judiciary was extensive, with 20 percent of those who had contact with the judiciary confronted with a bribe demand.

Many believe that the contradictory and controversial judgments emanating from the judiciary in recent times are symptoms of a compromised institution where justice delivery is no longer the first and primary consideration.

While we commend the increase in judicial officers’ salaries, we call for total reforms in the sector to ensure that Nigeria begins to reap the full benefits of these high wages for officers in the temple of justice.

As presently constituted, the CJN is vested with too much power: he heads the National Judicial Council (NJC), which administers both the appointment and discipline of judges, the Federal Judicial Service Commission (FJSC), the National Judicial Institute (NJI), and the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee (LPPC), which appoints Senior Advocates of Nigeria. Concentrating all these powers in one individual can lead to corruption and abuse of power.

In April this year, the Attorney General of the Federation, the NJC, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), and the EU-funded Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption (RoLAC) organised the National Justice Summit, 2024.

As a newspaper, we call for the urgent consideration and implementation of the summit’s recommendations to help correct some of the systemic defects in the structure of the judiciary.

Finally, it is worth pointing out that in a country where political officeholders and judicial officers receive multiple millions of naira in monthly wages, while ordinary workers collect a minimum wage of N70,000, which can hardly pay for a bag of rice, the inequality among citizens widens. This reflects a deeply flawed society. Every worker deserves a decent wage.