Delta Govt assures of implementing financial autonomy for Judiciary

By Nosa Akenzua, Asaba

Delta State Government has declared that no effort will be spared in the full implementation of financial autonomy of the judiciary.
Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice of the state, Mr Peter Mrakpor (SAN) stated this on Monday while addressing members of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Judicial Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) and Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria (PASAN) who staged a peaceful protest to Government House, Asaba.
Mr Mrakpor said that the bill for financial autonomy of the judiciary was passed into law in the state in March 2020, stressing that the state government had put the autonomy request in the first line charge in the Internally Generated Revenue of the state.
He assured the protesters that all grey areas for full implementation were on course and urged them to remain peaceful and law abiding in pressing home their demands.
Earlier, the Chairman, Forum of Branch Chairmen of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in Delta State, Chief Emmanuel Uti commended the efforts of JUSUN in the struggle for financial autonomy for the Judiciary in Nigeria, emphasising that NBA would not shift ground in its support for JUSUN and PASAN in the state.
Chief Uti, who is also the NBA Chairman in Warri, noted that members of the forum have observed that the state government had taken the initiative to enact legislation towards ensuring financial autonomy for the state judiciary.
According to him, the Delta State Judiciary Fund Management (Financial Autonomy) Law, 2019, had created the enabling environment and established the requisite structures to give effect to judicial autonomy in the state.
In their separate speeches, the State Chairman of JUSUN, Comrade Austin Chiejine and the representative of PASAN, Comrade Oghenerhoboke Penn, said that they would not resume for official duties in their respective offices until the financial autonomy was implemented in the state.
It would be recalled that JUSUN had on April 6, 2021 shut down all courts in the country, including the Supreme Court of Nigeria, to protest the alleged rejection by governors to conform to the constitutional provisions for financial autonomy of the judiciary.