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THE Public and Private Development Centre (PPDC), has called on private sector organisations to channel some of their corporate social responsibility to fund the judiciary.
Mr Kenechukwu Agwu, Senior Programme Manager of PPDC told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Abuja that such gesture would contribute to effective judicial services in Nigeria.
According to Agwu, lack of funds in the nation’s judiciary system has affected the sector to a large extent, especially in the speedy dispensation of justice.
“A lot of people feel dissatisfied because they have not had justice in one way or the other and they begin to cause trouble in the society.
“So, we are calling on everybody; government, private sector, we need to put hands together to make the justice sector works,” he said.
He specifically urged the private sector to channel the funding to access to justice, provision of infrastructure to courts, and decongestion of correctional centres.
The PPDC official also called for financial autonomy for the arm of government saying that when the judiciary has its own budget and access to funds directly, it will go a long way in working efficiently.
“Yes, financial autonomy is greatly needed for the judiciary to be effective.
“Judicial autonomy financially is an issue we are also advocating because we believe that when judiciary has its own budget and unfettered access to funds, it will go a long way to ease their work.
“And of course, it tells a lot on what judiciary can do because if they need to go cap in hand every time to look for funds to do what they are doing, we will not achieve the desired services in the sector.
“It is also a time to call on our private sector to come in and of course the judiciary is a very good place for corporate social responsibility because injustice to one is a threat to justice to everybody,” he explained.
The manager also appealed to government at all levels to review judges salaries to curb corruption in the sector.
“The last time the judges salary was reviewed was about 10 years ago.
“What this means is that a federal high court judge receiving N300,000 and has been a judge for the last 10 years, has been receiving the same amount for the last 10 years.
“If you convert it to dollars and let’s assume at N300 per dollar, it cannot be the same now in 2024 when a dollar is at N1,500.
“Your purchasing power has gone down and you’ve been a judge for long, don’t you think that this could breed corruption?.
“This could breed corruption because a judge receiving N300,000 and you bring him N300million and he looks at the circumstances, there are no ways, no imminent open threat for him being caught at that time.
“It brings corruption and corruption thrives in a place of secrecy,” Agwu said. (NAN)
19th February, 2024.
C.E.
Tags: Kenechukwu Agwu PPDC
