Undue Influence: Falana Canvasses Financial Autonomy for Judiciary in 2025 Budgets

Wale Igbintade

Human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), has urged both the federal and state governments to allocate sufficient financial resources in their 2025 budgets to enable the judiciary to independently fund the construction of housing and purchase vehicles for judges.
Falana argued that these provisions are crucial to protecting judges from undue executive influence.

In a statement titled – “Financial Autonomy for the Judiciary Must Be Actualised in 2025 Budgets” – Falana emphasized that financial autonomy is essential for preserving the independence of the judiciary, which he believes is currently compromised by executive control.
He highlighted a glaring disparity in the treatment of judges compared to other government officials. For instance, when President Bola Tinubu took office, new SUVs were quietly distributed to members of the Federal Executive Council and the National Assembly.

In contrast, judges who received replacement vehicles after a decade of service were subjected to public ceremonies where state governors handed over keys, an event Falana described as humiliating.
This issue, he added, reached a new low when the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, publicly assembled senior judges for the launch of a project to build 40 housing units for judges.

Wike revealed plans to allocate 20 houses to FCT High Court judges, 10 to Federal High Court judges, and 10 to Court of Appeal justices. Falana criticized this gesture as diminishing judicial independence by making judges dependent on the executive.
Falana also condemned attempts by some legal professionals to justify the executive’s involvement in providing housing and vehicles for judges. He reminded critics that the Nigerian Constitution guarantees financial autonomy for the judiciary.

He cited legal precedents, including rulings by the Federal High Court and the National Judicial Council, which support the constitutional mandate for judicial independence.
Referring to specific provisions in the Nigerian Constitution, Falana pointed out that Section 81(3) guarantees direct payments from the Consolidated Revenue Fund to the National Judicial Council, which is responsible for disbursing funds to heads of courts at both the federal and state levels.
While acknowledging that the federal judiciary is better funded, Falana noted that full financial autonomy remains an unresolved issue, especially at the state level.

“The call for financial autonomy has been ongoing for years. Former President Muhammadu Buhari issued Executive Order No. 10 of 2020 to address the issue, but state governors successfully challenged its validity in the Supreme Court.
“Following that, an amendment to Section 121(3) of the Constitution mandated that state governments pay the judiciary directly, but implementation has been inconsistent,” he explained.

Falana urged both the National Judicial Council and the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to advocate for the full implementation of judicial financial autonomy in the 2025 budgets, in strict compliance with constitutional provisions.

He stressed the importance of ensuring that the judiciary at both the federal and state levels have the financial capacity to independently provide for the welfare of judges, safeguarding their autonomy from executive influence.

Concluding, Falana called on the NBA to be ready to challenge any violations of the constitution concerning judicial financial autonomy.