The Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) has urged the federal government to direct the attorney-general of the federation to pay allocations directly to state judiciaries.
President Buhari, on May 22, 2020, signed into law an executive order 10 which 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.
For states that refuse to grant judicial autonomy, the order also mandates the accountant-general of the federation to deduct the amount from the monthly allocation to each state.
Speaking in an interview with NAN, Emmanuel Abioye, JUSUN deputy president, said the federal government should go ahead with paying the funds directly to heads of courts in states, instead of through the governors.
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“We call on the president to invoke his powers under executive order 10, by advising the accountant-general of the federation to deduct at source, all funds due to state judiciaries, and to pay same directly to the heads of courts in states that have refused to comply with the executive order 10, as constitutional directives are non negotiable,” he said.
“My call to the federal government in this instance is that directive should be given to the public officer who is meant to carry out that assignment.
“And who is the person? It is the accountant-general of the federal, maybe through the attorney-general of the federation.
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“In all these, we don’t even need the consent of the governors before the needful is done.”
Abioye said it was disappointing that the law was yet to be implemented since the union got the federal high court judgement in its favour.
“What is needed is that the accountant-general of the federation, in conjunction with the directive of the AGF, ought to have deducted the money from the source,” he said.
The union had, on April 6, embarked on a nationwide strike to protest against the non-implementation of financial autonomy for the judiciary.
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