BY IKECHUKWU NNOCHIRI

ABUJA —THE Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, yesterday, ordered that funds accruing to the judiciary from the Federal Account/Consolidated Revenue Fund, should henceforth, be paid directly to the heads of courts of the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory.

Delivering judgment in a suit by Judiciary Staff Association of Nigeria, JUSUN, an umbrella body of workers in the justice sector, Justice Ademola Adeniyi, held that going by the provisions of sections 81(3), 212(3) and 162(9) of the Constitution of Nigeria, 1999, as amended, it was illegal and unconstitutional for the judiciary arm of government in various states of the federation to continue receiving their statutory allocations in piecemeal through the states’ Ministry of Finance as and when the governors so desire.

“The era of cap-in-hand begging for funds to run the judiciary should stop. The effect of allowing the governors to rely on their whims and caprices in determining when to release fund for the day-to-day operation of the judiciary is not farfetched as it is evident in the incessant undue interference by the Executive, continued reduction in budgetary allocation to the judiciary, poor infrastructure and dilapidation of court buildings and chambers, low morale of judicial workers and corruption.”