The National President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr. Yakubu Maikyau who identified the disregard for the rule of law for all the ills plaguing the country, expressed worry that, “none of the presidential candidates for the upcoming 2023 election…. spared any thought on the independence of the judiciary.”

He spoke in Abuja at the 2022/2023 legal year ceremony of the Court of Appeal, during which the court’s President, Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem called on both the federal and state governments to help provide decent accommodation for the judges.

Maikyau, who noted that the AGF failed to act on a report on judges welfare submitted since 2018, argued that the Executive and the Legislature needed not to be prodded before intervening on the current unenviable state of affairs in the Judiciary.

He stressed that for the government to recover and develop Nigeria, it must, “deliberately invest in the welfare of judges and justice by strengthening the human capital within the justice sector and meeting all the infrastructural needs of the judiciary.”

The NBA President also added: “Let me say that one demonstrable way by which the government will show sincerity in the bid to recover and develop this nation, is to deliberately invest in the welfare of judges and Justices by strengthening the human capital within the justice sector and meeting all the infrastructural needs of the judiciary.

“This is my call on the Federal Government and it should be addressed as a matter of urgency.

“I also call on the Federal Government to revisit the 2018 Report of the Committee on the Review of Judicial Salaries and Conditions of Service, to bring same in tune with our present-day realities and give effect to the final recommendations that will arise therefrom.”