The long winding road to judicial salary review

A few days ago, lawyers woke up to emails, one from the President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA,) Mr. Y.C. Maikyau, SAN,  and another from the Association’s publicity secretary on the subject of review of judicial officers’ salary. The email was not pretentious that it was Maikyau and his team (and not anyone else), who initiated the whole idea of the review of judicial officers’ salaries. Call it an ostentatious assertion of ownership right and you would not be wrong.

In the email which was circulated to all lawyers, Mr. Maikyau stated:“By the grace of God Almighty, and without any intention of sounding immodest, we successfully undertook this task which culminated into the enactment of the Judicial Office Holders (Salaries and Allowances, Etc) Act, 2024, which was a product of constructive engagement with all the arms of Government.”

But is Maikyau actually the “brain-father” of the Judicial Office Holders (Salaries and Allowances, Etc) Act, 2024? The whole idea far precedes his ascension to the presidency of the NBA. I recall that reports of an ongoing process had been in the news, long before Maikyau became the President of the NBA.

The Body Of Benchers’ Intervention
The road to the review of remuneration of judicial officers has no doubt been a torturous one, with many harrowing bends and bumpy stretch. As far back as 2018, under the government of Muhammadu Buhari, there had been a report, proposing a review of judicial salaries and conditions of service. While the report continued to gather dust on the president’s shelf, a rare diatribe emerged from the Justices of the Supreme Court, around June, 2022, with bitter complaints about the condition of service of the court and the nation’s judiciary at large.

The first regulatory body in the legal profession to react to this, was the Body of Benchers, then chaired by Mr. Wole Olanipekun who wrote to all the Justices of the Supreme Court, urging them to exercise patience while the Body engages with the relevant stakeholders towards addressing their complaints. Body of Benchers’ sources has it that Olanipekun had set up a Judicial Advisory Committee headed by the former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mahmud Mohammed, with representatives from the NBA and the Judiciary. The same sources also revealed that the then Chairman of the Body of Benchers engaged the consulting firm of Earnst& Young to do a comparative analysis of salaries and emoluments of judicial officers across the commonwealth countries, with a view to achieving an internationally acceptable scale.

It was in the news that in July2022, Olanipekun led other Benchers to Buhari to register their concerns and to “parley” with the then Presidenttowards addressing the issue. It was in furtherance of these engagements that the President directed the Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RAMFC) to begin the process of implementation of the 2018 report, pending the conclusion of the Earnst& Young report commissioned by the then Body of Benchers leadership.

While the engagements with Buhari and his eventual commitment took place around July2022, Maikyau did not become the President of the NBA until 26 August, 2022. At the commissioning of the Body of Benchers Complex on September29, 2022, Mr. Buhari acknowledged the assiduous efforts of the Body of Benchers and its leadership, in his address, when he said:“I am not unaware of the passion and commitment of Chief Olanipekun in championing the cause of the welfare of Judicial Officers in Nigeria, as well as the commitment of the Body of this goal. May I restate my commitment towards this ideal and to reiterate our administration’s willingness to implement the 2018 Report of the Committee on the Review of Judicial Salaries and Conditions of Service.In similar vein, I have been intimated on the engagement of Consultants by the Body, through its Advisory Judicial Committee, to amongst other things, come up with a peer review of the conditions of service of Judicial Officers in Nigeria with other countries and jurisdictions, within and outside Africa. I earnestly look forward to the completion of this peer review and the submission of recommendation, as this will assist us in no small measure, in our review of the welfare packages.”

Earnst& Young’s findings were documented in a report, which was submitted to the President, the RAMFC, the National Assembly and other stakeholders in the value chain. It would later be discovered that the N15 Million professional fees of Earnst& Young were personally borne by the duo of Olanipekun and the current Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr. Lateef Fagbemi at a ratio of 10:5. No doubt, the report presented a basis and resources for the legislative processes that followed, before the eventual enactment of the Act.

Joint Efforts Of Senior Lawyers And The Judicial Staff
Long before the intervention of the Body of Benchers, the eminent Senior Advocate, Mr. OlisaAgbakoba had in two separate actions, that is, Suit Nos. FHC/ABJ/CS/63/2013 and Suit No: NAD/56/2013, against various governmental stakeholders, including the Federal Government, the National Judicial Council, the National Assembly, Ekiti State Government, etc., obtained judgments in his personal capacity, granting financial autonomy of the judiciary.

More recently in 2022, another respected Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr. Sebastain Hon, in his personal capacity and supported by over 100 members of the Inner Bar and 30 members of the Outer Bar, appearing as counsel, made another attempt through an action against the National Assembly (NASS), the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), the National Judicial Council (NJC) and the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), over the poor salary of judges in Nigeria. This action predatedMaikyau’s assumption of office as NBA President, even when very gray hairs like Solomon Awomolo, SAN, J.B. Daudu, SAN, OCJ Okocha, SAN, Kanu Agabi, SAN, and E.C. Ukala, SAN, registered their unequivocal support, both in court appearance and preparation of processes. Or what do you say of the daunting efforts of the handlers of the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria, who had in January, 2014, obtained judgment against the National Judicial Council and the Governors of the 36 States of the Federation to court, over the same issue?

Men had committed their voices, goodwill, efforts, intellect and resources to the cause which has eventually culminated in this result. No doubt, the story may not be complete without a mention of Mr. Maikyau’s name, as his voice was very loud in support of a review of salary review for judicial officers. However, he only arrived at the racecourse at a time the horse had already bolted. He is at best, a joint tenant with several other tenants, owning very limited interest in the pool.

• Joseph, a Public Affairs Analyst, wrote from Lagos.