By Abba Gwale
The members of the House of Representatives had on Wednesday backed the call for judicial autonomy to allow the judiciary system to function without interference.
The chairman House Committee on Judiciary, Onofiok Luke, disclosed this at a meeting with members of the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN).
He said the house is behind the concerns and yearnings of members of the association saying that the autonomy of the judiciary is crucial to the survival of Nigeria’s democracy and operations of the three arms of government.
“As a committee, we share in the sentiments as expressed by JUSUN. From our colleagues, they were just proposing some of the measures that we feel that we can put in place to arrive at a just conclusion,” he said.
He however added that the house committee asked to get more information from JUSUN to help it know where and who to actually engage and get a solution to the lingering issue.
“We’re in solidarity with you on the agitations you’re making to make sure we have financial autonomy that’ll lead to the independence of the judiciary,” he continued
Mr. Luke also criticized JUSUN’s decision of shutting down all courts, adding that the problem was more with some state governments that had not complied with the constitution on the financial autonomy of the judiciary system.
He also said Federal Government had complied with the law and issued funds to the courts under its control.
Onofiok Luke, lamented that by shutting down all courts, the union was punishing both the Federal Government alongside the erring state governments.
He called on the Nigerian Governors Forum to intervene promising that the house of representatives would also meet with the NGF on the issue.
Shehu Magaji, the JUSUN National Assistant Secretary, lamented that state Governors had refused to release funds to the judiciary as granted through the Executive Order.
