Magistrates, area courts judges and judiciary staff across Kogi State are groaning over unpaid salaries as the state government was said to be owing them over five months.
Already, the development was said to be affecting the discharge of duty by the affected judiciary officers.
We gathered on Sunday that the non-payment of salary that affected the workers of the state government has also taken its toll on the judiciary.
Administrative and other categories of staff in the judicial sector of the state that are on the payroll of government have not received salary for five months.
Sources within the magistrates and area court judges said the non-payment of their salary has affected their services and might expose them to unnecessary temptations.
It would be recalled that the state government had recently introduced a new system of payment of salary, which was said to be meant to further sanitise the system.
Workers on the employment of government were demanded to make physical appearances during the payment and personally collect their cheques.
But the workers in the state judiciary, including judges and the leadership of the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN), were said to have kicked against the system known as ‘table payment’.
They claimed that since they are a distinct arm of government that is being given subvention, the executive arm should not subject them to screening in the guise of table payment.
The magistrates and the area court judges were said to have last collected salary in June, a situation that had made it extremely difficult for them to meet their personal needs.
Although the magistrates and area court judges would not want to make public comments on the development, sources among them stated that they have not been finding living easy since the salary issue escalated last month.
It was gathered that many cases have stagnated in the courts because of the failure of the courts to sit regularly.
Apart from this, it was also gathered that some of the people that have cases before many of the courts had been attempting to take advantage of the situation and tempt the judges with “juicy offers” to compromise them.
However, the affected workers and their leadership have insisted that they would not partake in the table payment arrangement.
The state chairman of JUSUN, Comrade Emmanuel Waniko, had said the workers were not ready for table payment as they are operating as a separate entity.
He said: “Judiciary is a separate arm of government, we have been on subvention since the creation of the state, we have the Judicial Service Commission that is responsible for employment, promotion and termination of workers.
“They want us to submit our documents for table payment and we are not going to be part of it. The running cost we incurred is based on the subvention given to us and there has not been any addition or subtraction since 2011. We have a pending promotion that cannot be implemented because of the scarcity of fund.”
Credit: Tribune Online
