Judiciary Underfunding: Let’s Jail the Senators
I came face-to-face with the crisis wrought by the unconscionable underfunding of the Judiciary about a fortnight ago. The occasion was the hearing of a matter which shall remain nameless for obvious reasons. The ostensible ‘theatre of dreams’ – which every courtroom ought to be – quickly turned into a theatre of nightmare. It was a most macabre and grotesque sight to behold in one of the world’s leading oil producers.
As I walked into the court premises, an eerie silence pervaded the entire environment. It was obvious to me that, aside from the fact that courts are usually sombre environments, the absence of cacophonous clattering of generating sets could only have been the handiwork of an improved NEPA. But I was in for a rude shock. The entire National Industrial Court of Nigeria, Lagos Division was not only bereft of any sign of power supply from either NEPA/PHCN or generating sets, its court rooms competed with the ovens at Ajaokuta Steel Complex for the ‘newest hell on earth’ prize!
If I thought that I had seen the worst, I was mistaken. Sooner than later, as the sweltering conditions inside the courtroom became increasingly intolerable, at least one lawyer sought leave of the court to take off his wig and gown. This is not a request any lawyer makes lightly. He was not only obliged, the judge even gave a blanket approval for any lawyer who may wish to toe that line. One or two other lawyers grabbed the offer with both hands. Expectedly, the judge and most of the lawyers remained fully robed, soaking in the heat and sweating profusely. As the ungainly condition worsened, the judge asked his registrars to open all the windows and blinds. The respite was only marginal. A most ghastly sight was soon thrust on us all as the judge soon fetched his handkerchief and, his equanimity partially giving way, began wiping sweat off his burrowed face with as much dignity as he could muster. It was obvious to all that things had come to a head.
Unable to hold it any longer, the apparently assiduous judge who sat at exactly 9 o’clock, appealed to all concerned to intervene in the criminal (not his words) underfunding of the nation’s judiciary. With a voice laden with deep emotions, the jurist informed his stunned audience that not only had the entire court been in darkness throughout the week due to lack of funds for purchase of diesel to power the generating sets, he used his own funds to fly into Lagos for the court session! He noted that aside from the sessions holding in such unsavoury conditions, nothing else was going in the premises due to the power outage. He was unable to access his computer and Internet facilities especially to write rulings. The court’s registry and administrative staff were on forced holidays, no thanks to the electricity crises. He lamented that while the new Judicial Policy imposes fresh and arduous duties on judges, its realization is daily threatened by judicial underfunding. Noting that the spectre of judicial underfunding was coming at a time the Judiciary is being thrust with additional functions, the apparently pained jurist urged Nigerians to intervene and save the justice sector from total collapse.
Let me confess that while this intervention was remotely spurred by a similar outcry by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mariam Aloma Mukhtar, the judge’s impassioned plea and my tortuous experience in his court are the immediate motivations.
The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) is not given to frivolities. It was therefore obvious that the nation’s Judiciary was in grave danger of implosion when the CJN made a ‘cry for help’ at the commencement of the 2013/2014 Legal Year on September 23, 2014 urging stakeholders to intervene and stem the grievous descent of budgetary allocations to the Judiciary.
The sordid picture of decay could not have been painted better. Her words: “Over the years, funding of the courts has remained a challenge as evidenced in the condition of many courts in Nigeria today. Statistics have shown that, funding from the Federal Government has witnessed a steady decline since 2010, from N95 Billion in that year to N85 Billion in 2011, then N75 Billion in 2012 and dropped again in the 2013 budget to N67 Billion. Indeed with this amount, if the amount allocated to the extra-judicial organisations within the Judiciary is deducted, the courts are left with a paltry sum to operate.”
Lamenting further, the CJN warned: “The simple implication is that our courts are increasingly finding it difficult to effectively perform their day-to-day constitutional roles. The resultant effect of a slim budget in the judiciary is that a number of courts in Nigeria today evince decay and neglect of infrastructural amenities particularly at the State level. In some cases the court buildings do not possess the required well equipped library for judges to conduct their research. This may make judges rely on information supplied by lawyers which should not be the case.”
“A resultant effect of low budgeting for the courts is inability to fully embrace ICT as it does not come cheap,” she observed. “In fact you may be surprised to know that in many magistrate and high courts across the country, the manual method of record keeping is still being used instead of computers where information from records can easily be accessible and retrieved.” Capacity building for judges and court staff has also been imperiled.
Needless to say, her SOS yielded ‘immediate result.’ As against N28 Billion that was shaved off the Judiciary’s budget within three years, the Executive graciously reversed the trend; it not only sustained the Judiciary’s budget but even ‘dashed’ it an additional N1 Billion! This would have been highly comical if not that it is quite tragic, involving as it does life-and-death matters. If the justice system collapses, anarchy is bound to reign as more and more people may resort to unwholesome tactics, including self-help. This cannot be sufficiently emphasized. But in an election year, the tendency for these warnings to go unheeded is indeed very high.
Curiously, National Assembly members, civil society advocates and individual opposition parties did not seem to fully grasp the danger the underfunding debacle poses to our collective well-being and the safeguarding of our nascent democracy. It is recalled that it was the rather tenuous Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) that had the presence of mind to interrogate the CJN’s plea. The CNPP had stated that “Her point that poor budgetary allocation to the judiciary not only fuels corruption, but undermines and subverts the growth of democracy in Nigeria is well noted.”
Querying The Presidency and its economic team, the CNPP had said: “In one breath the economic team will deny that Nigeria is not broke because of monumental corruption going on in the land and in another breath they refuse to fund adequately critical infrastructure, social services and the judiciary,” noting that “In sum, we challenge the Jonathan regime to explain the dysfunction in Nigeria that rakes up annually over N4 trillion from Federal Inland Revenue Services, over N1 trillion from Customs Duty – and the price of Oil and Gas has never fallen below budget benchmark; yet the country is under stress and dangerously sliding into a failed state.”
It was Dr. Olisa Agbakoba (SAN) who recently pointed out that while an entire arm of government, namely the Judiciary, receives a paltry N68 Billion for itself and all its numerous agencies, the sole Office of the National Security Adviser in the unwieldy Executive Branch has been allocated about N100 Billion in this year’s budget.
There are strong indications that while Section 81 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) now secures for the Judiciary a first-line charge on the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the federation, the Judiciary has again been brought to its knees through a devious underfunding tactic. The scenario is not different between State Governors and the courts at that level of government, even as it has been stated that due to this dependency syndrome, no judge can now be appointed without the permission of the relevant Governor. It is recalled that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was recently reported as broke. Perhaps sooner than later, a similar cry would be heard from the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC). It then behoves on all stakeholders to raise serious posers on whether all agencies meant to checkmate official corruption are being systematically undermined to compromise their independence and or effectiveness.
All said, the CJN has assured that “the judiciary must continue to defend its independence so that it should not merely be apparent but must be seen to be real.” This may however become a mirage in a situation where the Judiciary is being punched into the ungainly corner of going cap-in-hand to the Executive to beg for funds.
As the lawmakers prepare to bequeath another Appropriation Act on hapless Nigerians, Agbakoba’s insights again come to mind. His words: “Look at the National Assembly, all the sprawling mansions they have built. How many judges have access to competent secretaries, typists, stenographers? And you expect them to deal with rulings and all that and churn out orders? Compare a judge and a minister, if a minister is receiving so much emoluments, I can assure you that the judge is receiving one tenth of what a minister is receiving.”
It is hoped that the lawmakers will urgently revisit the allocation to the Judiciary with a view to redressing the long-standing injustice meted to that long-suffering arm of government. Or should we jail all the Senators to drive home this point?
Emeka Nwadioke is a Lagos-based practitioner
Emeka Nwadioke