By Ikechukwu Nnochiri
ABUJA – The Supreme Court, on Tuesday, said there was no truth in the allegation that it operates a secret account from which its Justices, including the Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, benefited from illegal withdrawal of funds.

The apex court, via a press statement signed by its Director, Press and Information, Dr. Akande Festus, maintained that salaries and allowances paid to its Justices were “either provided for or alluded to in the ‘Certain Political, Public and Judicial Office Holders [Salaries and Allowances, etc.] [Amendment] Act, 2008’.

Chief Justice of the Federation, Justice Walter Onnoghen  Photo by Abayomi ADESHIDA

It stated that the 2008 Amendment Act, among other things, made provisions for upward review of the annual basic salaries, allowances and fringe benefits of the Justices, adding that all approvals by the previous CJNs regarding allowances of apex court Justices, was in tandem with provisions of the Act and other extant laws.

It said the last approval which is still in operation, was done on July 13, 2010, through an Internal Memo with Ref. No. CJN/JAF/39/7.

In its bid to set the record straight, the apex court, revealed that its Justices individually collect the sum of $23, 400 as estacode per annum, as well as another £10, 000 as medical allowances.

According to the Supreme Court, “The pegging of this annual medical fee at £10,000 was a product of high discretion and commendable financial prudence to guard against a situation where varying medical bills that could even be as high as £50,000 or more would be submitted for reimbursement”.

It said contrary to “erroneous reports” being fed to public, lawyers working at the Supreme Court are only paid N400, 000 Barrister Annual Robbing Allowance, while the Deputy Chief Registrars collect N500, 000.