Senate Approves N60m Salary for CJN and Supreme Court Justices

The Senate, on Wednesday, passed a bill seeking an upward review of salaries, allowances and other fringe benefits of judicial officers in the country.

This followed the adoption of the report of the Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters presented by the Chairman of the committee,  Senator Mohammed Monguno of APC, Borno North.

If the bill, earlier passed by the House of Representatives, is assented to by the President, the Chief Justice of Nigeria will get an annual salary of N64m.

The President of the Court of Appeal will be entitled to N62.4m, while Justices of the Supreme Court will earn the sum of N61.4m each.

All heads of the various courts, such as the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Chief Judge of the Federal Capital Territory High Court the President of the National Industrial Court, among others, would earn the same basic salary of N7.9 million annually..

You will recall that the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, and the Nigerian Bar Association had recently voiced their support for the call to increase the salaries of judges in the country, which they said was last reviewed 17 years ago.