Judiciary Not A Call To Penury — Ekiti State Attorney-General

The Attorney- General of Ekiti State Olawale Fapohunda has said
that serving in the nations Judiciary is not a call to penury.
Fapohunda who was the key note speaker at a public presentation of
the Book ‘Ministering Justice’ said that ‘while I
agree that there can be no justification for any form of judicial
corruption, I am unable to accept that to serve on the bench is a
call to national service and penury.’

Fapohunda said that the position in some quarters that a
judicial officer who is unable to survive on his merger salary
should resign from the bench is ridiculous and unrealistic. He said
that ‘It is also self-defeating to continue to preach integrity on
the bench, without removing the temptations that comes with poor
conditions of service’

Elaborating further on the issue of judicial corruption, 
Fapohunda said that judicial salaries must be set at a
comparatively high public-service level in order to remove both the
temptation to corruption and public contemplation of the
possibility of such temptation.

He commended President Muhammadu Buhari for establishing the
Presidential Committee on the Review of Judicial Salaries and
Allowances but said that it is important that the report of the
Committee is implemented to the letter.

Fapohunda  said that the  Committee found inter alia
that between May 1999 and March 2011, the Federal Government
reviewed the salaries and allowances of Public Servants and
Political office holders on four occasions specifically in 2000,
2005, 2007 and 2011. However, the salaries of judicial officers
were only reviewed twice during the same period. As a result,
judicial officers have been on the same salary structure for more
than 10 years.

He stressed that the guarantee of adequate conditions of service
is not meant for the benefit of the judiciary but that financial
security is a means to the end of judicial independence, and is
therefore for the benefit of us all.

Commenting on the suspension of Honourable Justice Walter
Onnognen, Fapohunda said that if there is one positive development
about the debates around the matter of the Presidency and the
Judiciary, it is the priceless publicity that has been gifted to
the Justice sector. He hoped that  when all the dust is
settled, the justice sector will not return to business as usual
but  the long overdue task of undertaking far reaching reforms
in the  justice sector will commence in earnest.

The book ‘Ministering Justice’ was written by Olasupo Shashore
San and Dr. Ahmed Bello. Present at the Public presentation were
Former Attorneys- General of Lagos State Hariat Balogun and Ade
Ipaye.. Kazeem Adeniji, Attorney- General, Lagos State, Former
Chairman, National Human Rights Commission, Prof Chidi odinkalu