House of Reps Reveals Monthly Salary of Chief Justice of Nigeria, Calls for Urgent Review
- The salary scale of the judicial workers has stirred reactions and this according to a federal lawmaker exposes them to corrupt practices
- The chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Judiciary, Onofiok Luke has indicated an interest on the matter
- According to Luke, the remuneration is long overdue and should be reviewed, following the nation’s present economic realities
FCT, Abuja - The chairman of the House of Representatives committee on Judiciary, Onofiok Luke has expressed concerns over the meagre salaries of the judicial officers, which he said exposed them to corruption.
The salaries, he said, were due for a review, stating it was abnormal that the Chief Justice of Nigeria, who is the highest judicial officer, earns a paltry N279, 497 monthly while Justices of the Court of Appeal take home about N206, 425, Vanguard reported.
He said further that Judges of the Federal High Court, National Industrial Court, FCT High Court, state high courts, FCT Sharia Court of Appeal, FCT Customary Court of Appeal, Khadis of state Sharia Courts of Appeal and state customary courts of appeal all earn N1.8 million each as annual salary, resulting to about N150,000 monthly.
Source: Facebook
In his motion seeking a review of the remunerations of Judicial officers and to increase the statutory transfer to the judiciary, Luke said the salary of judicial officers was last reviewed by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) in 2007 when the official exchange rate was N124 to $1 and the minimum wage was N5,000.
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He added that the salary of judicial officers have become totally at variance with the current economic realities, The Punch also reported.
The House however resolved to ask the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) to immediately review the remuneration of judicial officers in line with present economic realities, while also asking the federal government to, in line with judicial autonomy, accede to the increase in statutory transfer to the judiciary in the coming fiscal year.
House of Reps passes revised MTEF within 24 hours
Meanwhile, Legit.ng earlier reported that the House of Representatives on Wednesday, October 6, passed the revised 2022-2024 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper.
The passage came less than a day after President Muhammadu Buhari presented the executive bill for amendment.
The House committee on Finance at the plenary on Wednesday considered and adopted the report on Wednesday.
FG releases how much 2023 general elections will cost
In another development, the federal government has reportedly set aside the sum of N100 billion for the conduct of the 2023 general elections.
This new development was contained in the revised 2022-2024 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), submitted to the House of Representatives by President Muhammadu Buhari for approval.
Legit.ng gathered that it has also increased the national budget for the fiscal year from N13.98 trillion to N16.45 trillion, indicating a raise of N2.47 trillion.
Source: Legit.ng
