The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) is stepping up the pressure on states unwilling to implement judicial financial autonomy as demanded by the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN).
It has directed the association’s chairmen nationwide to visit the Governors of the 36 states on Monday and demand implementation of judicial financial autonomy.
NBA President Mr Olumide Akpata, who stated this in a letter to lawyers on Friday night, said the Governors had shown no willingness to comply with the law and a judicial decision on the matter.
He said lawyers would visit the State Houses every Monday and present a written demand for implementation of judicial financial autonomy until the governors comply.
JUSUN on April 6 sealed all Federal and State courts nationwide in the enforcement of its indefinite nationwide strike over the non-implementation of judicial financial autonomy.
The strike is to press home JUSUN’s demand following a landmark High Court judgment of January 13, 2014, which confirmed the autonomy of the Judiciary in line with the spirit and letters of the Constitution.
The judgment was followed by a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between JUSUN and relevant stakeholders under which parties agreed to give effect to the judgment, but most state governments are yet to comply.
States have also ignored an Executive Order by President Muhammadu Buhari requiring them to obey the law.
JUSUN said Friday that it would begin a nationwide protest on Monday.
Reacting to the impasse on Friday night, Akpata described the demand for financial autonomy as “legitimate, constitutional and is in the best interest of the Judiciary as it is one of the key parameters for enthroning independence of the Judiciary and fostering democracy.
He said with the recent actions and utterances of officials of some of the State Governments, “it has become apparent that most of the State Governments are not ready or willing to implement the constitutional provisions which grant financial autonomy to the Judiciary.
“After due consultations with several stakeholders, we have come to the inevitable conclusion that the NBA must take more decisive steps at this troubling moment. We must, as a body, act in consonance with the aims and objects of our Constitution, by effectively playing our role in the defence of the independence of the Judiciary which this fight for financial autonomy seeks to achieve.
