The RMAFC Chairman, Mohammed Shehu, made this known on Thursday.
The President Muhammadu Buhari-led Nigerian government has directed the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) to review the salaries of judges and other judicial office holders.
The RMAFC Chairman, Mohammed Shehu, made this known on Thursday during an interview with Channels TV monitored by SaharaReporters.
"We have received the directive by Mr. President on 5he salary of judges, and as you are all aware, there has been a big uproar over the years on the salary of judges.
"Like I explained the last time, when you hire a judge today, a judge that has been on that position for 20 or 25 years will receive the same salary.
"And when it comes to their allowances like housing allowance which is about 300 percent of their basic salary, if they are given government accommodation, that 300 percent would be forfeited.
"So, I think that Mr. President looked at the report of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Chairman, there was a retreat sometimes back either in 2018 or so, where he organised it the Nigerian Judicial Council and they came up with this narrative to Mr. President that the salaries of judges are really nothing to write home about and their allowances, and for them to be more independent and not corrupt, they need to be adequately taken care of. As a society, we should do that," he said.
Shehu recounted that there was an activist, who he could not mention, who took the Nigerian government, RMAFC, the Attorney-General of the Federation and the President to court and there was a court ruling that stated in the judgment that judges should be paid a particular amount of money.
He however said that "The amount is so huge that I don't think that the present government or any government will be able to accede to that court judgment.
"As a compromise, Mr. President directed the Attorney-General of the Federation to meet with the stakeholders in the judicial system. They had some retired judges, they sat down, they packaged something and forwarded it to the Attorney General and the Attorney General forwarded it to Mr. President and Mr. President accepted that recommendation.
"But as a person of law and order, who follows the system, Mr. President knew that he does not have that power as the President to just approve it by fear, so the whole package was forwarded to the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission to see how this can be implemented."
According to him, a look at section 84 and section 124 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria shows that the powers to determine the salary of judicial officers squarely lies on the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission.
"Now the Commission has taken up that issue and has forwarded the report to the Committee on Monetisation headed by a Commissioner from Gombe State and they have started deliberating and see how this thing can be implemented, and the Commission will have engagement with the Attorney General of the Federation sometimes today on how this things can be implemented.
"So, I assure Nigerians that what we are going to do on the review of salaries of political office holders and judicial officers, the first one to come will be that of the judicial officers. We are going to do it as soon as practicable and as soon as possible. We are going to do it, no going back."
On Political office holders salaries, Shehu explained that offices like the office of governor, president, deputy governor, member of House of Assembly and other political appointees, the commission had problems from the Act of 2008 to the present, as the Commission discovered that there were a lot of discrepancies that needed to be addressed.