April 14, 2021

The Governor of Plateau State, Simon Lalong says state governors are not against financial autonomy for the judiciary.

His comment is coming following the ongoing strike by the Judicial Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) over the non-implementation of financial autonomy for the nation’s judiciary.

Lalong disclosed this during an interview with newsmen after a meeting with the French Minister in charge of Foreign Trade and Attractiveness, Mr. Frank Riester, held with the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), in Abuja, as part of his two-day official visit to Nigeria.

Lalong, who represeented the chairman of the NGF and governor of Ekiti State, Kayode Fayemi, said that the governors were already consulting with JUSUN.

He added that the NGF would be meeting on Wednesday, to finalize the issue, as they did not need any Order 10, to implement financial autonomy for the judiciary, since they played key role in the passage of the financial autonomy legislation.

He, however, said that certain criteria had to be put in place, for financial autonomy for the judiciary to commence at the state level.

Lalong said that financial autonomy was not about finances, but to strengthen the institution.

“You don’t wake up one day and say you are doing financial autonomy, because a law is passed, there must be processes.

“For instance, as a former Speaker, I will tell you that you cannot do financial autonomy until you establish a service commission. You must establish a state Allocation Committee. All these are steps towards autonomy.

“You don’t achieve autonomy in a day. We did it in the National Assembly, and there was no Order 10 for implementation. It took them stages. The federal government is aware.

“Members of the National Assembly, who are Governors today were members who fought for the autonomy, so how can we be against the autonomy”, Lalong asked. (NAN)