The President of the Court of Appeal (PCA), Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem has decried the poor salary structure of Nigerian Judges with a call on the Federal government to urgently review it.
In addition to the poor salary package, Justice Dongban-Mensem disclosed that Judges have been on one salary grade for over 10 years.
Making comparison, she lamented that the salary structure for judicial officers and staff has been consistently ranked poorly when compared to that of their counterparts in other African and Commonwealth countries.
Justice Dongban-Mensem who made the call on Monday at opening of the new legal year for the appellate court, disclosed that the last time salaries of judicial officers were reviewed in Nigeria, was on February 1, 2007 via the “Certain Political, Public and Judicial Office Holders (Salaries and Allowances, etc.) Amendment Act, 2008.
The Act, according to Justice Dongban-Mensem, ” the Chief Justice of Nigeria’s annual basic salary is N 3,353,972.50 or N279,497.71 monthly, while other Justices of the Supreme Court and the President of the Court of Appeal earn N2,477,110.00 as basic annual salary or N206,425.83 monthly. My Brother Justices of the Court of Appeal, earn an annual basic salary of N 1,995,430.18 each or N 166,285.84 monthly, exclusive of benefits and allowances.
By comparison, a ThisDay Newspaper publication on 4th May 2021, reported that in South Africa, the Hon. Judges in the High Court and Labour Court earn annual basic salaries of R1.4 million (or N40.85 million). Judge-Presidents (Heads of Court) earn R1.6million (N46.69m) per annum, Constitutional and Supreme Court Justices earn R1.7 million (N49.61m) and the Chief Justice of South Africa earns R2.3 million (N67.12m). The President of the Supreme Court earns just over R2-million (N58.37m) a year.
More worrisome is the fact that the salaries of justices are static with no graduation as in the civil and public service.
“We therefore call upon the Federal and State Governments to live up to their obligations under the law. I also implore the Governments of the Federation and States to urgently review the salaries and allowances of Judicial Officers and Staff. The salaries of Justices are static with no graduation as in the civil and public service. We have been on one salary grade for over ten years now.”
The PCA who noted that the independence of the judiciary is a sine qua non to our efficient operation, commended President Muhammadu Buhari for the promulgation of the “implementation of financial autonomy of state legislative and judiciary order, 2020, known as ” Executive Order 10″.
“We therefore call upon the Federal and State Governments to live up to their obligations under the law.”
