Nasarawa CJ appeal for judicial autonomy
The Nasarawa state Chief Judge, Justice Suleiman Dikko, has appealed to the state government to grant financial autonomy to judiciary to facilitate smooth dispensation of justice.
Dikko stated this on Monday in Lafia the state capital, during the 2017 Lafia appeal/call-over session to review cases already decided by lower courts.
According to him, the inadequate finances had hampered the effort of the management towards building the capacity of judges and other supporting staff of the judiciary in the state.
He added that judges in the state, who were supposed to attend national and international conferences over the year under the sponsorship of the judiciary could not do so due to lack of funds.
Accordingly, the management could not implement staff promotion, annual increment, hazard allowance amongst other entitlements.
His word “We have had to use our over-head to implement One year promotion of staff in 2016 to avert industrial action by Judicial Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) and Magistrates Association of Nigeria (MAN).
“The implication of that one year promotion is that we pay over N3.5 million monthly and with the paucity of funds, implementing another promotion would be impossible,” Dikko added.
He warned judges of lower courts and other staffs against indulging in corrupt practices as any found culpable would face disciplinary action.
He however, constituted Five appeal panels to review 155 criminal and civil cases already decided by lower courts.
According to him out of the cases, 53 were criminal while 102 were civil, adding that the review of the criminal cases would be impeded by the ongoing strike since the prosecuting counsels are the staff of the Ministry of Justice.
