A Professor of Law and President of the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, Professor Akinseye-George, has called for the consolidation of measures recently put in place by the judiciary during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Among others, he faulted the practice of building mansions for retiring Chief Justices of Nigeria, without any post-retirement housing plan for other judges.
A CJN, like other justices of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal, retires at 70 years old and is gifted with a mansion built with funds provided for in the National Judicial Council’s budget.
But Akinseye-George, who is also a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, in a statement issued on behalf of the CSLS, said it was illogical to build a mansion for a retiring CJN who probably would not need it, while most of other judges retired without owning a house.
The don, who also called for the improvement of the welfare or working conditions of judges, by urgently reviewing upward their salaries and allowances, recommended that every retiring judge should be guaranteed a decent accommodation in the Federal Capital Territory or a suitable state capital in the country.
Akinseye-George stated, “It makes no sense to give a retirement mansion to a retiring Chief Justice of Nigeria, who does not need it at his age, when all his children have probably left home and give nothing to other retiring justices.
“Even if we continue to indulge in that, the system ought not to forget the other justices.”
He recommended a minimum of well-equipped and furnished decent bungalow of three or four bedrooms and two-bedroom boys’ quarters in the FCT or any state capital to be part of the retirement package of every judge.
He applauded some recent developments in the justice sector in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictions imposed to curb the spreading of the virus.
In addition to the measures, he urged the NJC to urgently take the steps for the filling of all the vacancies on the Supreme Court bench which has a full complement of 21 justices.
The number of justices of the apex court declined to 12 with the retirement of Justice Paul Galumje on April 21.
Akinseye-George appealed to the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), to accelerate the confirmation of the appointment of four justices nominated for the apex court bench since last year, as well as the appointment of the Acting President of the Court of Appeal, Hon. Justice Monica Dongbam-Mensem.
He also called for the urgent amendment of the Nigerian Constitution “to reduce work- load of the Supreme Court” by limiting the variety of appeals that can be taken to the Supreme Court.
He appealed to the NJC, the body of Senior Advocates of Nigeria and the Nigerian Bar Association “to make the issue of judges’ welfare a matter of priority.”
Source: Punchng
