*As Olanipekun seeks President’s urgent intervention
President Muhammadu Buhari has said that his administration will take positive action over the degenerate welfare and working conditions of the country’s judicial officers.
The development came just as the President cautions on the dire state of the country’s economy which is “currently battling insecurity, corruption and economic challenges” and now aggravated by the COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine.
Buhari spoke on Thursday at the State House, Abuja during a courtesy visit by the Chairman and representatives of the Body of Bencher (BoB), a body of legal practitioners of “the highest distinction in the legal profession”.
According to the President, a democratic government like the one he leads, “standing on a tripod comprising the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary, cannot stand where one of its three pillars, the Judiciary is not properly nurtured, maintained and sustained to deliver on its very pivotal constitutional duties.”
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr Garba Shehu, also quoted Buhari as promising to act quickly on the report of the committee he set up on his own back in 2018 to review the welfare and working conditions of the judiciary:
The President said, “Let me assure you that the issues would be given due and urgent attention within the resources available to government.”
Buhari also congratulated the Body of Benchers on the successful completion of the “Benchers’ Complex at Jabi,” a building described as impressive that would house the body and provide conference facilities and accepted their invitation to personally commission the structure.
In his presentation, the Chairman of the Body of Benchers, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), described the condition under which judges, especially the Justices of the Supreme Court work as pathetic, appalling and below the minimum standards.
He said, “We want to plead with you. We need to bail out the Judiciary. The situation is bad. Let us sympathise with the Judiciary. I know you to have respect, feelings for the Judiciary. You have sympathy, empathy and consideration. The Body of Benchers, as elders of the legal profession, makes these recommendations to Your Excellency, with a plea that they should be attended to urgently.”
In his introductory remarks, the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar Malami (SAN), made a case for collaboration between the Executive and the Judicial arms of government.
According to the AGF, there is the need to, “open the books to enable both sides see the depth of the decay and know how far to go in putting in place the necessary remedial measures.”
