The suit instituted by the Attorney-General of the 36 states of the federation has compelled the federal government to refund N66 billion to the state governments as funds expended in funding the capital expenditure of the High Courts, Sharia Courts of Appeal, and Customary Courts of Appeal.
The Nigerian Supreme Court, on Monday, reserved judgment on a suit challenging the constitutionality of the Presidential Executive Order 10 issued in 2020 to enforce the financial autonomy of state judiciaries and legislatures.
Augustine Alegeh, a lawyer to the Attorneys-General of the 36 states, argued that it is the responsibility of the federal government to fund capital and recurrent expenditures of states’ High Courts and other states’ superior courts of record established by the Nigerian Constitution.
Mr. Alegeh, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), contended that Executive Order 10 breached the Nigerian constitution as it sought to compel state governors to fund the recurrent and capital expenditures of the state courts.
“It is the plaintiffs’ argument that the Presidential Executive Order No. 00-10 issued by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on 22 May 2020 is unconstitutional as the said Executive Order seeks to compel state governments to fund recurrent and capital expenditures of the State High Courts of Appeal, which form part of the courts whose funding is the prerogative of the federal government in line with the provisions of sections 6, 81(3) and item 21(3) of the Third Schedule to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” their filing read in part.
A full panel of seven Justices of the Supreme Court reserved the case for judgment after listening to the arguments of lawyers to parties in the suit. Musa Dattijo, who headed the seven-member panel, said the counsel to the “parties would be notified when the judgment is ready.”
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The Executive Order, which was issued last year by President Muhammadu Buhari, empowers the Accountant-General of the Federation to make deductions meant for state judiciaries from the state governments’ allocations and pay them to the National Judicial Council (NJC), which will then remit the deducted funds to the heads of courts in the states of the federation.
The plaintiffs however asked the court to not only declare Executive Order 10 unconstitutional but to also order the federal government to “fund the capital and recurrent expenditure” of the state courts.
