By Abba Gwale
The Nigerian Bar Association members had today protested in Abuja and Lagos against the non-implementation of financial autonomy for the judiciary in Lagos.
Earlier this month, members of the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria began an indefinite nationwide strike on Tuesday, 6th April 2021.
In Abuja, some of the judicial workers converged on the gate of the Court of Appeal in Abuja, chanting solidarity songs.
The National President of NBA, Olumide Akpata, had earlier asked all state branches to stage a protest today.
During the protest in Lagos, the lawyers displayed placards with various inscriptions as they marched from Ikeja Bar Centre through Oba Akinjobi, into Obafemi Awolowo Way towards the Alausa secretariat.
Recall that President Muhammadu Buhari had, on May 22, 2020, signed Executive Order 10 for the enforcement of the financial autonomy status granted to state legislature and judiciary in the Nigerian Constitution.
Executive Order 10 of 2020 made it mandatory for all states to include the allocations of both the legislature and the judiciary in the first-line charge of their budgets.
Further more, the order also directed the accountant-general of the federation to deduct from source amount due to the state legislatures and judiciaries from the monthly allocation to each state, for states that refuse to grant such autonomy.
