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Judicial officers to smile as FG begins implementation of 300% salary hike
The Attorney General and Minister of Justice Lateef Fagbemi has said the Federal Government has started the implementation of the 300% pay rise for judicial officers.
Fagbemi said this on Monday at the 12 Convocation ceremony of the Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD) in Ekiti State.
“One ongoing concern before I took office was the poor remuneration of judicial officers,” the AGF said at the event’s grand finale where he was conferred with an honourary doctorate in Law.
“I am again pleased to report that a major intervention of the Tinubu administration in the judiciary is the recent 300% upward review of the remuneration of judicial officers in Nigeria across board. To be true, I can confirm that the implementation of this has begun in earnest.”
He described the move as “an important first step” in the President Bola Tinubu administration’s resolve to “strengthen the judiciary”.
Tinubu had in August signed into law a bill seeking a 300% increase in salaries and allowances for judicial officials.
His comment came months after the Supreme Court recently ruled in favour of local government autonomy in what many have described as a watershed in the nation’s democratic journey.
Earlier in the year, Justice Fagbemi had sued the 36 state governors over alleged mismanagement of local government funds.
Months later, the apex court ruled that it was illegal for states to hold local government funds.
Before the verdict, local government funds were paid into a joint account managed by state governments and LGAs in their domains.
Justice Emmanuel Agim directed that allocation from the federation account should be paid directly to local government areas henceforth, and not to state government coffers.
This is our very modest contribution to the strengthening of our foundation and invariably the country’s democracy,” Fagbemi said.
The AGF also said the Federal Government will be embarking on a holistic review of Nigeria’s laws to respond to the daily needs of the country.
“We have assembled a team of legal luminaries to achieve this within a very limited timeframe,” the minister of justice said.
“This law review intervention will cut across all aspects of our social, economic, and political life.”
The Central Criminal Police in Finland has announced the arrest of Finnish-Nigerian separatist agitator, Simon Ekpa and four other individuals over terror-related activities.
According to a tabloid in Finland, Ekpa, the self-declared Prime Minister of Biafra Republic Government In-Exile, was remanded in custody by the district court of Päijät-Häme on suspicion of public incitement to commit a crime with terrorist intent.
In a Thursday statement published on its website, the Central Criminal Police in Finland said it arrested five persons on suspicion of terrorist crimes.
The police said the main suspect was arrested “on suspicion of public incitement to commit a crime with terrorist intent”, while four others were arrested “for financing a terrorist crime”.
The police added: “Claims will be heard in Päijät-Häme district court today, November 21.”
The statement reads, “The detention demands are related to the preliminary investigation, in which a Finnish citizen of Nigerian background, born in the 1980s, is suspected of public incitement to commit a crime with terrorist intent.
“The police suspect that the man has promoted his efforts from Finland by means that have led to violence against civilians and authorities as well as other crimes in the region of South-Eastern Nigeria.”
The statement quoted the head of the investigation, Crime Commissioner Otto Hiltunen from the Central Crime Police as saying that “the man has carried out this activity, among other things, on his social media channels”.
“Four other persons are suspected of financing the aforementioned activity. All five suspects of the crime have been arrested during the beginning of the week.
“International cooperation has been carried out during the preliminary investigation,” the statement added.
A lawyer, Mike Ofikwu, has been shot dead by gunmen in Otukpo town, Benue State.
The incident reportedly occurred on Wednesday night at his residence on Otukpa Street, Otukpo.
A source close to the deceased, who spoke on condition of anonymity, disclosed that the lawyer was ambushed by two armed men while waiting for his gate to be opened.
“Two armed men had laid an ambush for him. As he was waiting for his people to open the gate, the assailants emerged from hiding and shot him at a close range,” the source said.
The victim was rushed to a nearby hospital, but medical personnel pronounced him dead on arrival.
Confirming the incident, the spokesperson for the Benue State Police Command, Catherine Anene, said an investigation was underway to apprehend those responsible for the attack.
“This incident is confirmed, and investigations are ongoing. I commiserate with his family and friends and assure them that justice will be served,” Anene said in a brief statement.
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