THE complaints over poor welfare of Nigerian judges and judicial staff as a whole bespeak of the low regard that the Nigerian system pays to the law enforcement institutions of our government.

It is common knowledge that the Nigeria Police Force, NPF, is one of the most neglected federal agencies. This is why it is also perceived as one of the most corrupt and ineffective in delivering its constitutional mandate.

The immediate past Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Walter Onnoghen, lamented the poor conditions of service of the Justices of the Supreme Court, JSCs, at a public forum recently in Abuja.

He disclosed that some JSCs still live in rented apartments and in “unsuitable” areas, adding that the salaries of Supreme Court Judges have not been reviewed since 2008. The Judges have been suffering in silence.

Also the incumbent CJN, Tanko Mohammed, and the President of the Court of Appeal, Monica Dongban-Mensem, have at separate occasions, bemoaned the poor welfare of benchers. According to Dongban-Mensem, the CJN’s monthly salary was N279, 297, while that of the Appeal Court President was N206,425.

A lawyer, Sebastian Hon, SAN, incensed by this anomalous situation, recently sued the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice and the National Judicial Institute, NJC, in a bid to force action on this.

We are shocked that the system has capitalised on the fact that judicial officers are only to be seen and heard in their courts but not outside to perpetrate this cynical injustice against them.

What have the National Assembly Committees on the Judiciary been doing while the welfare of the area they oversee is so grievously marginalised?

The Legislative and Executive arms which control and spend the financial resources of the country are among the best remunerated in the world.

Though their official salaries appear puny, their overall conditions of service are among the most enviable among their peers globally.

The ease with which some of President Muhammadu Buhari’s Ministers were able to bring out the N100 million for the purchase of the All Progressives Congress, APC, presidential forms and the “empowerment” programmes of lawmakers show that the two branches help themselves to our commonwealth while neglecting the Judiciary.

We call on the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Allocation Commission, RMFAC, to liaise with other appropriate authorities to give our judicial officers at all levels the scale of welfare that will motivate them to administer justice incorruptibly.

We disagree with CJN Tanko Mohammed that Nigerian judges “don’t pander to anybody’s whims and caprices”.

He is denying the obvious. The United States recently described Nigerian courts as places where judgements are “sold” to the highest bidder. Some judges are known to be affluent.

Corruption is the only way this is possible in the face of poor welfare.