Constitution review: Chief Justice of Nigeria wants Judges pay reviewed every 4 years

Justice Tanko Muhammad, the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), has asked the National Assembly to mandate that the National Judicial Council examine the remuneration of judges every four years.

This was revealed by the CJN during the judiciary recommendations at the Senate Committee on Review of the 1999 Constitution's national public hearing in Abuja on Thursday.

“The NJC should collect, control and disburse all monies, capital and recurrent, for the judiciary. Part 1 of the third Schedule Paragraph 21 to the Constitution should be altered to include sub-paragraph ‘h’ to the effect that NJC should in conjunction with the Salaries and Wages Commission, fix salaries and other emoluments of Judicial Staff, in the case of Judicial Officers, to review such salaries no later than four years from the last exercise.

By enacting the Certain Political, Public, and Judicial Office Holders (Salaries and Allowances, etc.) (Amendment) Act, 2008, the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) evaluated judges' salaries under Section 84 (1). Judges' salaries have stayed the same for almost 13 years as this Act was not reviewed with effect from 2008,” he noted.

Nairametrics reported this week that the House of Representatives urged in the recent review of the constitution, that Local Governments should be made a tier of government with a uniform tenure, calling for more autonomy at that level, and more women’s participation in governance.