The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), has praised President Bola Tinubu for assenting to the Judicial Office Holders Salaries and Allowances Bill, 2024.
In a statement on Tuesday, Fagbemi described the assent as historic and noted that the long-standing demand of judicial officers across the country for improved conditions of service has now been addressed.
He lamented that judicial officers in Nigeria had been on the same salary for nearly two decades.
Fagbemi said, “President Tinubu has consistently demonstrated his commitment to the sustainable reform of the administration of justice. This is an important component of that reform. The review of judicial remuneration is a crucial and initial step toward achieving a judicial system that serves the interests of all Nigerians.
“Going forward, my ministry, in partnership with justice sector stakeholders, will work to ensure that additional issues related to strengthening the judiciary are identified and addressed.
“I express my profound appreciation to the 10th National Assembly for their concern for the judiciary and judicial officers in Nigeria, as demonstrated by their swift passage of the bill.”
Earlier today, the Special Adviser to the President on Senate Matters, Senator Basheer Lado, in a statement disclosed that President Tinubu has signed the Judicial Office Holders Salaries and Allowances Bill into law.
The law increased the annual earnings of the CJN to N64 million, the President of the Court of Appeal to N62.4 million while all the Chief Judges of the Federal High Courts, Chief Judge of all the State High Courts, and the President of the National Industrial Court would earn a basic salary of N7.9m annually.
The assent to law follows the National Assembly’s 300 per cent salary increase for judicial officers at both the federal and state levels in June.