We will alleviate difficult working conditions for judges – Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari says the poor welfare and working conditions of the national judiciary are serious and will be treated as such.

He said this would be done despite the country "currently struggling with insecurity, corruption and economic challenges", aggravated by COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine.

Mr. Buhari said this when he welcomed the President and representatives of the Body of Benchers, a body responsible for calling new lawyers to the Nigerian Bar and establishing regulations for the legal profession, at the State House, Abuja, Thursday.< /p>

According to the president, a democratic government such as the one he leads, "standing on a tripod comprising the executive, the legislature and the judiciary, cannot stand where one of its three pillars, the judiciary, is not properly nurtured, maintained and supported to perform its essential constitutional duties."

He therefore promised to act quickly on the report of the committee he himself created in 2018 to examine the welfare and working conditions of the judiciary.

“Let me assure you that the issues will be given special and urgent attention within the limits of the resources available to the government,” he said.

The President congratulated the Corps of Counselors on the successful completion of the "Counselors' Complex at Jabi", a described as impressive building which would house the Corps and provide conference facilities and accepted their invitation to personally commission the structure .

In his presentation, the chairman of the Body of Benchers, Wole Olanipekun, a senior lawyer from Nigeria, described the conditions under which judges, especially Supreme Court justices, work as pathetic, appalling and substandard. minimum standards.< /p>

He said, "We want to beg you. We need to bail out the judiciary. The situation is bad. Let's sympathize with the judiciary. I know you have respect and feelings for the judiciary.

"You have sympathy, empathy and consideration. The Corps of Counsellors, as elders of the legal profession, make these recommendations to Your Excellency, with a plea that they be addressed emergency."

In his opening remarks, Attorney General and Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami argued for collaboration between the executive and the judiciary, to "open the books to allow both sides to see the depth of decadence and know how far to go to put in place the necessary corrective measures.”

There are concerns about the poor working conditions and remuneration of Nigerian judges.

The Abuja Labor Court earlier this month ordered the federal government and its relevant institutions to raise judges' salaries, which have been stagnant since 2008.

The Attorney General of the Federation, Malami, and the National Assembly, which opposed the lawsuit asking for the revision to the increase of the salaries of the judges, must still commit to implementing the judgment.

Furthermore, the long-standing agitation for financial autonomy for the judiciary has not yielded the desired results, particularly at the state level.

(NAN)

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