CJN Onnoghen cautions judges on gratification

Taraba blames councils directors, clerks for graft
The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen, has cautioned Nigerian judges against all forms of ethical misconduct, especially acceptance of gratification in the course of their duties.

Justice Onnoghen yesterday at the opening of 2017 sensitization seminar for Federal Capital Territory and state high court judges, organized by Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation in collaboration with National Judicial Institute, urged judges to live above boards in the dispensation of justice.

Noting that judges play crucial role in ensuring financial stability in the country, he advised judges to work in Synergy with regulators of the financial sector to put in place mechanism that would guarantee safety of deposits and investment of customers.

Speaking on the theme: Challenges to Deposit Insurance Law and Practice in Nigeria, the CJN stated that although judges were subject to the same human frailty as every other member of society, their conducts must however be subject of constant public scrutiny.

“Various aspects of misconduct, including accepting gratification when delicate matters touching on deposits and investors funds are before you must be avoided,” the CJN admonished.

He believed that indulging in such acts would amount to placing the wealth of the nation out of reach of regulation and inviting financial collapse of the entire economy.

Justice Onnoghen added that judges in their adjudication should recognize that financial system stability laws and policy have clear objectives for the prevention of financial crisis and are targeted primarily at protecting a special class of persons – the depositors.

In her remarks, Administrator, National Judicial Institute, Justice Roseline Bozimo, stated that the theme of the workshop was apt, as it aimed at fostering previous efforts of the corporation and NJI.

Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, NDIC, Alhaji Umaru Ibrahim, while acknowledging that the judiciary remained a major stakeholder in achieving the vision and mandate of the corporation, stated that the seminar would afford the corporation a rare privilege of closely interfacing with the judiciary. He added that one of the major challenges confronting the corporation since inception in 1988, has been the gross misconception of the basic principles of Deposit Insurance System (DIS) among Nigerians.

In another development, directors and finance clerks of Local Government Councils in Taraba State, were yesterday identified as persons behind the present financial rots, irregularities and sharp practices in the local government system.

Interacting with media practitioners in Jalingo, the state capital, the Permanent Secretary, Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Mallam Bello Yero, who claimed to have briefed the Executive arm of the government on the sordid in the councils, said the ongoing biometric exercise in the councils would address the irregularities.

The permanent secretary who observed that “ one person in a local government collects the salaries of 20 persons,” said relevant measures to bring such culprits to book have been fashioned out by the government.