20th April, 2023
By Aminu Garko
The Kano Executive Council has approved the implementation of a newly introduced welfare and retirement benefits package for judicial officers in the state.
The welfare comprises the provision of a house, a three-bedroom apartment, a two-room guest chalet, a two-room boys’ quarters, an office facility and the surrounding wall.
The state Commissioner for Information and Internal Affairs, Malam Muhammad Garba made this known while briefing newsmen on the outcome of the weekly council meeting in Kano.
Garba explained that the welfare package introduced was in accordance with the National Judicial Council (NJC) Resolution on Welfare and Retirement Package for judicial officers, retired High Court Judges and Khadis of the Court of Appeals.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the NJC on Jan.19, criticised the failure of some state governments to pay up the benefits of retired judges in their states.
The NJC asked the “offending states” to immediately pay up the retirement benefits being owed to retired judges.
The NJC asked the defaulting states to step up their legal obligations on payment of retirement benefits to judicial officers.
The NJC also directed state Chief Judges to “file reports on compliance, to reach the Council not later than 1 April.
Many judges were said not to have a home of their own after retirement because they were poorly paid while in active service.
Disturbed by judges’ poor pay which has remained stagnant since 2008, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Sebastian Hon, filed a suit to compel the relevant federal government officials and its relevant agencies to approve an improved salary scale for judges.
Ruling on the suit in July 2022, the National Industrial Court of Nigeria in Abuja ordered a substantial increment in the salaries of the CJN and other Nigerian judges.
The court ordered the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) to immediately raise the salary of the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) to N10 million monthly from the current N3.4 million per annum, said to be far below what is earned by his counterparts in other countries.
The judge also ordered the RMAFC to review the salaries of other heads of courts and their judges ranging between N7 million to N9 million monthly.