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| House of Representatives |
The House of Representatives Committee on Judiciary on Wednesday decried the poor condition under which judges at the Lagos Division of the Federal High Court are working.
Noting the small sizes of the courtrooms in the division, the chairman of the committee, Aminu Shagari, said it does not speak well for judges to be sitting in such ‘cubicles’.
The committee visited the courtrooms and the judges’ residential quarters on Wednesday as part of its oversight functions.
Shagari said the visit had given the committee first-hand knowledge of the plight of the judges and lawyers, which would enable it to know how to intervene.
Shagari said, “What we have seen is unbecoming and it is unacceptable for a judge to be working in a cubicle — there is no wardrobe for them to change, no place for them to keep their books and files.
“Our visit here today will help us to understand what is going on in making appropriation for these projects so that it can be quickly completed and both lawyers and judges will be more comfortable and justice can be dispensed with as soon as possible that is why we are here.”
He, however, expressed satisfaction at the new courthouse, under construction, saying it would bring succour to both the judges and lawyers upon completion.
“We have visited the residential quarters of the judges, and we are visiting the courts where they are working, we have seen the edifice being built for them, the 20 courtrooms going on at Ikoyi.
“The court being built at ikoyi is a very nice project; there is a parking space on the ground floor for judges and lawyers and subsequent floors are courtrooms. It is a very beautiful project,” Shagari said.
The committee also commended President Muhammadu Buhari for reversing the trend of yearly dwindling budgetary allocation to the judiciary by appropriating N100bn for the judiciary in the 2018 budget.
“If you have been following the trend in the judiciary, budgets have been going down over the years while the federal budgets is going up every year, but luckily for us, this present administration has appropriated N100bn for the judiciary in the 2018 budget and also proposed this budget for the approval of the National Assembly.
“It is getting better, but we are still not where we ought to be; the infrastructure needed is huge; a lot of funding needs to be given to the judiciary,” he said.
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Noting the small sizes of the courtrooms in the division, the chairman of the committee, Aminu Shagari, said it does not speak well for judges to be sitting in such ‘cubicles’.
The committee visited the courtrooms and the judges’ residential quarters on Wednesday as part of its oversight functions.
Shagari said the visit had given the committee first-hand knowledge of the plight of the judges and lawyers, which would enable it to know how to intervene.
Shagari said, “What we have seen is unbecoming and it is unacceptable for a judge to be working in a cubicle — there is no wardrobe for them to change, no place for them to keep their books and files.
“Our visit here today will help us to understand what is going on in making appropriation for these projects so that it can be quickly completed and both lawyers and judges will be more comfortable and justice can be dispensed with as soon as possible that is why we are here.”
He, however, expressed satisfaction at the new courthouse, under construction, saying it would bring succour to both the judges and lawyers upon completion.
“We have visited the residential quarters of the judges, and we are visiting the courts where they are working, we have seen the edifice being built for them, the 20 courtrooms going on at Ikoyi.
“The court being built at ikoyi is a very nice project; there is a parking space on the ground floor for judges and lawyers and subsequent floors are courtrooms. It is a very beautiful project,” Shagari said.
The committee also commended President Muhammadu Buhari for reversing the trend of yearly dwindling budgetary allocation to the judiciary by appropriating N100bn for the judiciary in the 2018 budget.
“If you have been following the trend in the judiciary, budgets have been going down over the years while the federal budgets is going up every year, but luckily for us, this present administration has appropriated N100bn for the judiciary in the 2018 budget and also proposed this budget for the approval of the National Assembly.
“It is getting better, but we are still not where we ought to be; the infrastructure needed is huge; a lot of funding needs to be given to the judiciary,” he said.
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