THE Nigeria Bar Association, Delta State, has reacted to the setting up committees for the implementation of the Delta State Judiciary Funds Management Law.
NBA, Delta chapter comprising nine branches made their position known in a statement signed by the Forum Chairman who is also, Chairman of Warri branch, Chief Emmanuel Uti; Secretary to the Forum who is also, Chairman, Sapele Branch, S.C. Odoh, Esq and the chairmen of different branches and made available to Newsden.
The statement titled, “Re: NBA DIRECTIVE TO STATE NBA BRANCHES NATIONWIDE ON JUSUN STRIKE,” reads, “You will recall that on Monday, 19 April 2021 the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) staged a nationwide solidarity march with the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) calling for State Governments to comply with extant constitutional provisions on financial autonomy for the Judiciary, thus in that regard, the nine (9) Branches of the NBA in Delta State stormed the Government House in Asaba to demand that all monies accruable to the Judiciary, be deducted at source from the Federation Account as of right and paid directly to the judiciary and not through the executive arm or any other third party in line with the provisions of the (Fourth Alteration, No.4) Act of 2018, which amended the existing Section 121 (3) of the Constitution, and provides that any amount standing to the credit of the Judiciary, shall be paid directly to the heads of the courts concerned, as the dictates of financial autonomy for the State Judiciary should be.
“On that occasion, the NBA Chairmen and representatives of the various NBA Branches in the State were received by the Hon. Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Peter Mrakpor, (SAN), and two commissioners of the State who by virtue of call, are also members of the NBA. The Hon. Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, informed Leaders of the NBA, JUSUN and PASAN that the State Government was already implementing part of the demands and promised that the Governor would urgently call for a meeting with the NBA Leaders, to address the remaining components of the demands; We are still waiting to hear from the Governor with regards to the said meeting.
“Over the weekend, following the joint visitation of the NBA and JUSUN, our attention was drawn to media reports to the effect that some Committees had been set up by the State Chief Judge to implement the provisions of the Delta State Judiciary Funds Management Law, 2019. While we commend the State Government and State Chief Judge for the above welcome measures, we reiterate that the prime directive remains that all funds accruable to the Judiciary should be deducted at source and fully made available to the Judiciary as a first-line charge on the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the State.
“As critical stakeholders in the struggle for the enthronement, and full implementation of financial autonomy for the State Judiciary, we feel it is important at this juncture to express our misgivings as to the speedy set up of the Committees without any recourse to the leadership of the NBA, or the legal community in Delta State. It is our firm belief that the NBA in Delta State ought to be carried along in the process of constituting those Committees, this is especially as the eyes of the whole country are upon us all, considering the weighty nature of the demands that led to the strike in the first place. More so, being a part of the process would have enabled us to properly brief our members on the efforts being put in place with regards the issues at stake, as well as prepare a proper report to be transmitted to the National Leadership of the NBA, a critical stakeholder in the struggle for Judicial Autonomy.
“We humbly insist that certain questions still require answers from our leaders; when full payment of all internally generated revenue (IGR) by the Judiciary back to the Judiciary would commence; the modalities for computing these figures, etc. These queries are understandable in the light of the presence of many judiciary facilities in deplorable state in some parts of Delta State.
“In view of the foregoing, we hereby call on the State Governor to urgently address these salient issues with the leadership of the various branches of the NBA in Delta State. We also use this opportunity to reiterate our solidarity with JUSUN, and by extension, PASAN, and urge our comrades at the various state chapters to keep faith with the struggle and eschew divide and conquer tactics that would lay waste to a novel venture.”
