The National Assembly passed a bill to increase the remuneration of judicial officers in Nigeria. President Tinubu \u00a0on March 19, transmitted a Bill for an Act to Prescribe the Salaries, Allowances and Fringe Benefits of Judicial Office Holders in Nigeria and other Related Matters. President Tinubu had promised to review the remuneration of judges as part of efforts to tackle corruption in the Judiciary during the visit of the leadership of the Nigerian Bar Association to the State House in August 2023. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The bill seeks to amend the Certain Political, public and Judicial\nOffice Holders (Salaries and Allowances, etc) Act 2022 by deleting the portions\nof the Act relating to judicial office holders, and establishing a new framework that stipulates the\nremuneration of judicial officers. The salaries of judicial officers was last\nreviewed about 16 years ago. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Judicial Office Holders (Salaries and Allowances, etc) Bill,\n2024 applies to judicial officers described under section 318(1) of the 1999\nNigerian Constitution and provides their entitlements in the form of salaries,\nallowances and fringe benefits. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The bill empowers the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal\nCommission to monitor the Federal\nGovernment\u2019s compliance with provisions\nof the bill relating to the payment of remuneration to judicial officers. The\nCommission may also recommend to the President, variations to the rates of the\nemoluments of judicial officers set out in the schedule to the bill. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Commission is also empowered to make regulations prescribing\npenalties for non-compliance with the provisions of the bill and to determine\nthe allowances of a judicial officer who by virtue of his office is a chairman\nor member of another office or body. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The bill stipulates January 1, 2024 as the effective date of the\nConsolidated Salaries and Allowances for Judicial Officers, which are provided\nin the schedule to the bill. This implies that if signed into law, the new\nrates of emoluments for judicial officers will be deemed to have become payable\nfrom January 1, in which case arrears will have to be paid. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The bill amends the Certain Political, public and Judicial Office\nHolders (Salaries and Allowances, etc), No. 6, Act 2022 by deleting section 2\n(b), Part II of the Schedule to the Act and any other provisions relating to\nJudicial Office Holders. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Judicial Office Holders (Salaries and Allowances, etc) Bill,\n2024 is a welcome development that can go a long way to enhance the welfare of\njudicial officers and strengthen the independence of the Judiciary. However, Clause\n2 of the bill which states that a judicial office holder shall not be entitled\nto multiple allowances requires further clarification to specify what amounts\nto multiple allowances that are prohibited. <\/p>\n\n\n\n