By Solomon Azu, The Guardian Newspaper

• Non-implementation of judiciary financial autonomy threatens justice delivery, says CJ

Cross River State Judiciary said it has generated about N93,906,543 as revenue from various courts in the state as of August 2023.

The Chief Judge (CJ) of the state, Justice Akon Ikpeme, disclosed this in an address presented at the official opening of the 2023/2024 Legal Year of the state at the Judiciary headquarters, Calabar, state capital.

Giving a breakdown of the figure, the Chief Judge said a total of N22,646,900 was generated from the High Court, N18,543,165 from the Magistrates Court, and N52,716,469.70 from the Probate Court.

The Chief Judge further disclosed that out of 22,256 cases pending in the High Court for 2021/2022 and a total of 23,156 cases filed in the 2022/2023 legal year, a total of 1,262 cases have been disposed, while 26,894 cases were still pending.

For the Magistrates Court, she said out of 26,644 cases filed in 2022/2023 pending for 2021/2022 and 29,105 cases filed in 2022/2023, a total of 2,051 were disposed of, while 27,054 are still pending from the 2022/2023 legal year.

She noted that there was an improvement in the number of disposed cases in Magistrate courts due to an increase in the monetary jurisdiction of Chief Magistrates’ Courts from N1 million to N10 million.

Ikpeme thanked the judiciary staff for their renewed zeal and dedication to duty as they offer public service in the face of social, political, and economic challenges, assuring them of better welfare and well-being as they proceed into the 2023/2024 legal year.

Also, Justice Ikpeme called for the implementation of the Cross River State Judiciary Funds Management Law No. 4 2021, which came into effect on August 17, 2021.

She noted that there is an extant law on the financial autonomy of the judiciary, decrying the financial paucity, inadequate human resources, and the consequent challenges that confront the state judiciary.

The CJ described the existence of the law as a potential guarantee of financial freedom of the judiciary, lamenting that the law is yet to be implemented in the state.

She said: “Ordinarily, funds accruing to the Judiciary for capital and recurrent expenditures ought to be assessed directly from the consolidated revenue funds.”

She, therefore, called on relevant authorities to ensure its implementation as the judiciary moves into the 2023/24 legal year.