BY SIMEON EBEGBULEM

BENIN CITY—EDO State Chief Judge, Justice Cromwell Idahosa, has lamented that salaries of judges have not been reviewed since 2011, calling on the Revenue Allocation and Fiscal Commission to address the issue.

He spoke when he hosted the Chairman of the Edo State Board of Internal Revenue, Chief Useni Elamah and other members of the Board during the flag off of the Registration of Tax Identification Number, TIN in Benin City.

Justice Idahosa, who commended the state government for its tax drive, which he said has been judiciously used in the provision of infrastructures in the state, stressed the need for the review of the salaries of judges, adding that judges like other Nigerians were facing serious challenges.

He said “we are happy that the Edo State Government is now collecting taxes from everybody unlike before when only civil servants paid taxes in this state. But with the coming of this administration, other individuals and companies have started paying taxes. But on our part, our salaries were supposed to have been reviewed since 2011, but that has not been done.

“If our salaries are reviewed, judges will pay more taxes, so the relevant revenue body should review our salaries, so that we will pay more taxes.”
He  explained that the process of registering the TIN number was easy and urged the people of the state to continue to assist the state government in its developmental strides through the payment of their taxes.