RE-DETECTIVES UNCOVER HUGE CASH PAYMENTS TO JUSTICES
Our attention has been drawn to a publication with the above caption. It is rather unfortunate that the said ‘’facts and figures’’ were hurriedly packaged and delivered to the public domain without due diligence in verifying them to ascertain their veracity and legality. The Supreme Court, like any other government institutions, operates within the provisions of the Constitutions of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and extant laws. In view of the information being peddled within the public space, we are thus obliged to offer clarifications and proper enlightenment on the issues in contention.
Firstly, virtually all the salaries and allowances listed in the publication are either provided for or alluded to in the ‘’Certain Political, Public and Judicial Office Holders [Salaries and Allowances, etc.] [Amendment] Act, 2008.” For avoidance of doubt, Part II (B) of the Act, under the sub-head: ‘’Allowances and Fringe Benefits for Judicial Officers [Federal and State],” outlines the following categories to be covered by allowances and fringe benefits: Accommodation, Utilities, Domestic staff, Entertainment, Medical Allowance, Security, Furniture allowance, Personal Assistant, Motor Vehicle Loan, Severance Gratuity, Retirement Benefit, Leave Allowance, Motor Vehicle and Fuel Allowance, Hardship Allowance, Newspaper Allowance, Estacode, Duty Tour Allowance, Outfit Allowance, Special Assistant, etc.
In addition, the 2008 Amendment Act, among other things made provisions for upward review of these annual basic salaries, allowances and fringe benefits. It is necessary to add that all approvals by the previous Chief Justices of Nigeria in matters concerning allowances for the Hon. Justices are in tandem with the provisions of the 2008 Act and other extant laws. The last approval which is still in operation was done on 13th July, 2010 via an Internal Memo with Ref. No. CJN/JAF/39/7. There is equally a vote in the Supreme Court account for Justices welfare, just like all other legitimate votes which have been in operation for as long as one could stretch his imagination.
Secondly, the provisions of the Certain Political, Public and Judicial office Holders [salaries and Allowances, etc] [Amendment] Act, 2008, apply to the three arms of government and not the judiciary alone. So, it beats ones imagination why the judiciary should be singled out for castigation and vicious attacks. This is simply an indirect way of calling a dog a bad name for the obvious purpose of hanging it. For the avoidance of doubt, the following information may suffice to correct the pervading erroneous impression:
Estacode per night for a justice of the Supreme Court is $1,300. Going by the extant laws, they are entitled to two weeks estacode, calculated as 15 nights plus three nights’ travelling [transit] period, making 18 days altogether. If $1,300 is multiplied by 18 days, we get $23,400 being the Estacode per Justice per annum, as they are only entitled to one foreign trip per annum which is mainly done during the annual vacation.
Each Justice of the Supreme Court is entitled to annual medical fee of £10,000 to cater for their health need, which from all indications is not something outrageous or too much for somebody who toils and suffocates himself through heaps of voluminous law books/reports day and night while others somewhere else immerse themselves in unending luxury and ostentation , just for the sake of ensuring the dispensation of the right justice to keep the country as one. Besides, the pegging of this annual medical fee at £10,000 was a product of high discretion and commendable financial prudence to guard against a situation where varying medical bills that could even be as high as £50,000 or more would be submitted for reimbursement, as it is evident that individual human beings have varying health challenges.
The quarterly allowances for Justices is N910,000 and not N950,000 as erroneously reported in the said publication. Their monthly allowances which cover all the aforementioned legitimate allowances contained in the 2008 Act is currently N750,000.
A Justice of the Supreme Court, by whatever mode of reasoning we may adopt, is entitled to some measure of comfort obtainable in the First Class compartment of reputable airlines in the world. But by virtue of the current Presidential directive, effective 2015, they now fly Business Class, which ordinarily does not warrant any public debate as done in the said publication which attempts to bring journalism to an abysmal level of literally currying public sentiment for the paymaster.
The Barrister Annual Robbing Allowance which was yet erroneously alleged to be N500,000 for all officers of the Supreme Court, was just recently increased to N400,000 for only the Court’s Lawyers and N500,000 for the Deputy Chief Registrars. If as alleged by the sponsors of the publication, we pay N500,000 to every staff of the Supreme Court as outfit allowance, then we should be enjoying an annual budget that could only reside in the imagination of the writer [and sponsors] of the publication.
The current Duty Tour Allowance was last increased via a Circular with Ref. No SNC/S/04/S.311/5 from the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission on 10th May, 2007; and the Supreme Court has been adhering strictly to it.
The question that readily comes to mind at this juncture is that, if it is true that there has been any form of financial irregularities since 2009 as alleged, why is it that the agencies vested with the powers to investigate and query accordingly like the Auditor General of the Federation and Accountant General of the Federation have not done so? Could this be a veiled indictment of those who ought to provide checks but have not done so because they have seen no wrong doing or someone somewhere is merely playing to the gallery?
The take-home fact here is that at the Supreme Court, we have tried to shed off ostentatious life style by practically embracing financial prudence in all our dealings. It will be interesting to know that all these monetized allowances were approved by the Hon. Chief Justice of Nigeria to scale down the cost of governance. Similarly, the cash payments through operations account is borne out of the well known reclusive life style of the justices which doesn’t give them the luxury to operate freely in public places [which could be banks, markets, social events, etc.]; at least, to shield them from external influences to do what might subjugate their oath of office.
Even the said operations account is not something out of the blue. In a Circular titled: “Detailed Implementation Guidelines for e-payment from all funds of the Federal Government of Nigeria,’ signed by the then Accountant General of the Federation on 26th November, 2008, it was stated under paragraph eight among others that:
[i] For the purposes of smooth operation of the e-payment, individual Employee’s Accounts [referred to in the Circular] to be designated ‘’Operations Account” should be opened in the same bank where the MDA maintains.
[ii] The opening of the operations Account by officers shall be done immediately the approval for payment has been granted.
[iii] The Operations Account of individual employee shall only be opened after a letter of introduction signed by a designated officer of the MDA is presented to the bank.
[iv] The Banker’s Committee is to be notified that the Operations Account of the individual employee is to be regarded as a subsidiary of the MDA’s account and should be non COT account.
[v] The Banker’s Committee is to be notified that minimum deposits/balance requirement should not be applicable to the operations Accounts.
In other words, the Account is simply a clearing or transit account which is permitted to enjoy a zero balance. To now draw the conclusion that the Court operates a secret account even with these facts, is merely a narrative gone wrong. The Court has not faltered in observing the dictates of the Circular to the letter.
The Supreme Court budget for a long time revolves around N6 billion; and we are all witnesses to what obtains somewhere else even with less demanding nature of work. Out of this budget, Capital and Recurrent expenditures are taken. Also, these naively dramatized ‘salaries and allowances’ are extracted from it as well. And to make matters worse, the Court runs mostly on generator thus consuming at least one full truck of diesel per month. Those familiar with figures must have by now arrived at what the court spends on diesel alone out of its meagre budget. With all these account-depleting huge expenses, where is that extra money for the alleged ‘unspecified jumbo allowances’ for Justices?
It is rather saddening to let the world know, at least for the first time, that the Chief Justice of Nigeria who steers the affairs of the Nigerian judiciary, earns less than N500,000 per month which is far less than what a Personal Assistant to someone else somewhere earns. If with the less-than-take-home pay of the CJN and Justices of the Supreme Court, these little hardship-cushioning allowances and Medicare are removed, won’t it appear suicidal to those with discernible mind? It is literally akin to shooting a gun at a mosquito with the sole intent to have it dead. That is very unfortunate! The norm under this circumstance now should be that: To whom much is expected, much should be given. The Nigerian public is enlightened enough to read in-between the lines and so, cannot be led by the nose. The Nigerian state stands on a tripod that must be kept functional against all odds. Any attempt, consciously or unconsciously, to cripple one of the legs will directly or indirectly ground the entire system and that will not be good for the health and growth of the nation especially at this crucial stage that we are.
Dr. Akande Festus
Director, Press and Information.
