A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Sebastine Hon, has dragged the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), National Judicial Council (NJC) and the National Assembly (NASS) before the Federal High Court in Abuja over the poor wages being paid to judges.
The Silk is praying the court to compel them, alongside the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), to increase the salaries and allowances of judges in the country.
The suit by the senior lawyer is marked FHC/ABJ/CS/595/2022 and filed in his capacity as a concerned legal practitioner in Nigeria.
Joined as defendants in the suit are the National Assembly, the RMAFC, the AGF and NJC as defendants.
In a supporting affidavit to the originating summons, Hon stated that as a legal practitioner, “who has practised in all the levels of courts in Nigeria, I know that poor pay for judicial officers is seriously affecting the quality of judgments and rulings those officers are delivering and the discharge of other functions associated with their offices.”
He argued that the current economic reality in the country requires that the salaries and allowances of the nation’s judges be urgently improved upon.
The plaintiff noted that the highest-paid judicial officer in the country – the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) – currently earns about N3.4 million per annum, far below what is earned by such an officer in other countries.
(New Telegraph)
