•New system takes effect 45 days after agreement
Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja
The federal government and governors of the 36 states of the federation have agreed on a revenue-sharing formula to resolve the raging dispute over the full implementation of financial autonomy for state judiciaries and legislatures.
If the agreement is accepted by judicial and parliamentary workers, who have been on a strike for over one month to press home their demands for financial autonomy for the two arms of government in the 36 states of the federation, funds from the Federation Account due to each state are to be jointly shared among the executive, legislature and judiciary in each state.
Godswill-Akpabio
Nseobong Okon-Ekong writes that the predictable gimmick of interim management committees and forensic audit reports deployed by Senator Godswill Akpabio, Minister of Niger Delta Affairs to delay inauguration of the Niger Delta Development Commission Board is about to run its course
Senator Godswill Obot Akpabio, Minister of Niger Delta Affairs is used to having his way. As Governor of Akwa Ibom State between 2007 and 2015, things had to be done his way or no way. He ruled when the Naira was relatively strong, compared to what we have today. At the peak of his power in 2013, former Minister of Finance and now the Director General of the World Trade Organisation revealed that revenue allocation to Akwa Ibom State was far in excess of the national budgets of countries like Ghana and Liberia. Akwa Ibom State got about USD1.7 billion (N260 billion) from the Federation Account in 2013.
If the offices of the governors are a creation of the Constitution, why are those who occupy them continue to violate the provisions of the same law in respect to financial autonomy for the judiciary? Asks Davidson Iriekpen
For another week last Friday, courts across the country remained closed after the meeting between the umbrella body of judiciary workers in Nigeria, Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) and representatives of the federal government ended with no concrete solutions. The meeting was postponed again to this week.
The workers have been on strike since April 6 to press home their demands for a complete financial autonomy for the judiciary.
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President Buhari, on May 22, 2020, signed into law an executive order 10 which made it mandatory for all states to include the allocations of both the legislature and the judiciary in the first-line charge of their budgets.
For states that refuse to grant judicial autonomy, the order also mandates the accountant-general of the federation to deduct the amount from the monthly allocation to each state.
Speaking in an interview with NAN, Emmanuel Abioye, JUSUN deputy president, said the federal government should go ahead with paying the funds directly to heads of courts in states, instead of through the governors.
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“We call on the president to invoke his powers under executive order 10, by advising the accountant-general of the federation to deduct at source, all funds due to state judiciaries, and to pay same directly to the heads of courts in states that have refused to comply with the executive order 10, as constitutional directives are non negotiabl
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