It is often said that for the foundation of any organization or a nation to be sustainable, the rule of law must and adherence to the Constitutional provisions must be in the front burner for both the government and the governed.
This is the practice in the advanced democracy of the world where interest of the nation is made most paramount over and above any individual or group no matter how highly placed or endowed in terms of resources.
Under the Presidential system of government, clear cut provisions were made in the Constitution for three arms of government namely: Executive, Legislature and Judiciary, with the arms independent of each other, with clear separation of powers under the constitution, to avoid any hindrance in the overall running of affairs of government.
However, while adherence to the rule of law and obedience to the letters of separation of powers had been advanced in a country like America, the same cannot be said here in Nigeria where in spite of having been granted independence as far back as 1960 and became a full republic in 1963, its emerging leaders are still finding it difficult to put into practice, the all important separation of powers, even as clearly enshrined in the constitution without any form of ambiguity.
A clear form of affront to the constitution and separation of powers is deliberate denial of financial autonomy to both the judiciary and the legislature at the state levels in Nigeria where all powers appear to have been confined to the state governors only.
This brings into fore, the on-going power tussle between state governors on one side and judiciary workers on the other side, leading to declaration of an indefinite nationwide strike by the latter on 6th April in a bid to enforce the Constitutional provisions as they relate to Separation of Powers and to rescue the judiciary from the claws of the almighty governors this time around.
For any lover of good governance and democratic government, the position of the judiciary workers is justifiable and justiciable, while on the other hand, the position of the states remain condemnable being a glaring aberration and outright confrontation to the constitution the governors swore to protect at their individual inaugurations by the Chief Judges of their respective states.
At the April 6, 2021, commencement of the strike, the workers operating under the aegis of the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria, JUSUN, made their position known.
In a statement made public and signed by its General Secretary, I. M. Adetola, JUSUS said each state should implement its self-accounting law in dealing with the Internally Generated Revenue
“Each state should implement its self-accounting law or Fund Management law in dealing with Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) also known as state consolidated fund) in accordance with section 121(3) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic Nigeria as amended.
“While the states that have not yet signed the Bill into law should do so without delay,” JUSUN said
Furthermore, the Union maintained that amount standing to the credit of the judiciary from the monthly federal allocation should be deducted directly from the source by Accountant General of the Federation and remitted to the National Judicial Council NJC for onward transmission to heads of courts
JUSUN said, “For the Federation Consolidated Account also known as Federal Allocation, the Budget of each State Judiciary submitted to the implementation committee (received on the 2nd of October, 2020) should be implemented by deducting the amount due to the state judiciary directly from source by Accountant General of the Federation in accordance to section 81(3), section 162(9) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic Nigeria (as amended) for the states. The Accountant General of the Federation should be directed accordingly.
“That is, the Accountant General of the Federation should deduct from the monthly Federal Allocation and remit it to NJC for onward transmission of the fund to the Heads of Courts at the State Judiciary. Sections 81(3),162(8).”
The Union also posited that the implementation requested above should include payment of the arrears from the month of October, 2020.
It must be made clear here that the workers are demanding financial autonomy for the nation’s judiciary in compliance with the Nigerian Constitution and a judgment of a Federal High Court in Abuja which affirmed the relevant constitutional provisions in a January 2014 judgment.
Due to the adamant posture of the governors, most of whom are lawyers, the apex court in the land, the Supreme Court, Court of Appeal Federal high court, National Industrial Court and high court of the states and the Federal Capital Territory, among others, have since been under lock and key with attendant consequences.
Part of the consequences are that litigants who see judiciary as the last hope, cannot access courts for now, thousands of legal practitioners who have no other means of livelihood cannot practice their noble profession and worse still, several awaiting trial suspects are to remain in custody till God knows when.
It will, therefore, not be out of place for eminent Nigerians, especially lovers of democracy, to prevail on the adamant governors to see reason with the judiciary workers and indeed, Nigeria to shift ground and accede to the legitimate demands of the workers.
Let the point be made here that it is not the constitutional duty of any governor to superintend over funds meant for the state judiciary and the state House of Assembly. It is an aberration, a gross abuse of power and dangerous affront to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
President Muhammadu Buhari’s silence in this matter appears not golden any longer. The Presidency must take the bull by the horn by ensuring that the constitutional provisions are adhered to in all levels of government.
The Executive Order 10 promulgated by the Presidency to rescue the state judiciary and the State Houses of Assembly must be bravely implemented to serve its useful purpose.
All government agencies expected to carry out one function or the other in respect of autonomy for the state judiciary, especially the office of the Accountant General of the Federation must be given marching order to do their job without any fear or favour.
On their parts, the governors must stop pretending as if all is well with their states. Holding the nation’s judiciary to ransom on account of utter disregard to the constitution and fundamental laws will not do them any good.
The governors must remember that they have a maximum of eight years to spend in office after which they may end up becoming victims of the bad precedents being foisted on Nigeria now.
Being rigid in the face of gross violation of the constitutional provisions and the rule of law may make Nigeria’s history to be bitter to them.
