Judges and other senior officials of the judiciary are no longer comfortable by the refusal of some state governors to release funds to the third arm of government as provided in section 131(3) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended). The judicial officials, who accused most state governors of breaching the constitutional provision of first line charge in the funding of the judiciary at the state level, said the governors’ action was impeding the intended independence of the judiciary.
The law was designed to safeguard the judiciary from being teleguided by the state governors and guarantee its autonomy.
Section 131(3) states that, “Any amount standing to the credit of the judiciary in the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the state shall be paid directly to the heads of the courts.”
But LEADERSHIP Sunday gathered that some state governors have continued to neglect the sacred law and act in the breach of constitutional breach.
Already, the Conference of Heads of Courts of Northern States has raised the alarm over the ugly development.
At the group’s meeting on Tuesday last week in Minna, the Niger State, the outgoing Chief Judge of Niger State, Justice Jibrin Ndajiwo, appealed to the state governors to stop breaching the constitutional provision that emphasised the direct funding of the judiciary from the federation account.
When LEADERSHIP Sunday sought the views of some commissioners for justice and commissioners of finance on the matter, they claimed that their states were fulfilling their obligation to the judiciary.
But Justice Ndajiwo said the breach of the constitutional provision by the governors had hampered the quick dispensation of justice in the country and the independence of the judiciary.
Also, the chairman of the Conference of Heads of Courts of Northern States, Justice Ibrahim Umaru, regretted that some governors had continued to disobey section 131(3) of the constitution that grants the judiciary financial autonomy.
Justices Ndajiwo and Umar were emphatic in saying that some of the state governors had reduced heads of the judiciary in the state. They lamented the that the top officials now beg for money from state ministries of finance and justice before they can discharge their duties.
Ndajiwo noted that it was regrettable that some of the governors who sworn on oath to uphold the constitutions were refusing to adhere to the provision that gives the judiciary autonomy and appealed to Niger State Governor, Dr. Muazu Babangida Aliyu, to prevail on his colleagues as chairman, Northern States Governors’ Forum to obey the section of the constitution that provides financial autonomy for the judiciary.
Justice Umaru stated that the message to the governors to hands off the finances of the judiciary was imperative and it was about time Governor Aliyu and his colleagues adhered to the constitutional provision.
On the situation in Plateau State, the commissioner for finance, Mr. Davou Mang, said that the state government had been consistent in release the monthly allocation to the judicial arm of government.
Mang told LEADERSHIP Sunday in Jos that judiciary is on first line charge, adding that the state government releases its allocation along with that of the state House of Assembly, the Government House at the same time every month.
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