From Olanrewaju Lawal, Ilorin
The Kwara state chapter of Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) has called for the financial autonomy for Nigeria Judiciary.
The state Chairman of the bar, Barrister Mobolaji Ojibara, who stated this at a media briefing to mark NBA’s ‘Law Week’, said only Nasarawa and Bayelsa stated have freedom on finance.
“It is not in Kwara state; it is virtually all the states except Nasarawa and Bayelsa states. The Constitution is very clear on what is required for the independence of each and every arm of the Government. It is not appropriate that any arm of the Government will be going cap in hand in order to survive.
“I think the survival or existence of an arm of government, particularly the Judiciary, must not be dependent on the existence of good relationship with any other arm, particularly the Executive, for it to survive.
“The Constitution is very clear. It requires articulating the full accounting status for the Judiciary. The government only needs to look into the Constitution and apply the portion of the Constitution.
“It is not only Kwara state government. Kwara state is not financially independent. Virtually all the states in the federation except Bayelsa and Nasarawa states are not financially independent.”
On the corruption, Ojibara said, “I do not think that it is right to say that the Judiciary can be gotten rid of corruption. The Judiciary, headed by the present Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), is making a lot of efforts to sanitise Judiciary. At the end of the day, they would have achieved a lot of results.
“So we should support the effort in our own way. Let us eradicate corruption even in our little corners and from wherever we belong to. At the appropriate time, our efforts will bring the appropriate result to the system”.
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