Fiscal autonomy to states’ judiciary, legislatures

Nigeria’s democracy got a boost last week when President Muhammadu Buhari signed the Fourth Alteration to the 1999 Constitution giving total financial autonomy to states’ Houses of Assembly and the judiciary in the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). The new law, will no doubt, give effect to the pragmatic operation of the doctrine of the separation of power enshrined in sections 5, 6, and 7 of the 1999 constitution as amended.

Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Senator Ita Enang, who confirmed the development while briefing State House correspondents shortly after meeting with the president, explained that with the signing into law of the Constitution Alteration Bill, the state Houses of Assembly would now operate like the National Assembly, where Federal Ministry of Finance automatically transfers budgetary allocation direct to the account of the National Assembly.

He said the judiciary in the states would now enjoy similar financial independence, as their budgetary allocations would no longer go through the budgeting process of the executive arms at the state level, but would be transferred directly to the account of the judiciary. Enang said: “I just want to inform you that the president today assented to the Constitution Fourth Alteration Bill, which grants financial autonomy and independence to the Houses of Assembly of the respective states and to the judiciary of the respective states.

Therefore, upon this signature, the amounts standing to the credit of the judiciary are now be paid directly to the judiciary of those states, no more through the governors and no more from the governors. “And then, the amounts standing to the credit of the Houses of Assembly of the respective states are now to be paid directly to the Houses of Assembly of that state for the benefit of the legislators and the management of the states Houses of Assembly”.

Although, financial autonomy to the judiciary across the 36 states of the federation and the FCT is more of a jurisprudential issue the adage that he who pays the piper dictates the tune makes the economic independence of the third arm of government a sine qua non to their incorruptibility and impartiality. A situation where state governors determined when and how to release funds to their respective judiciary is not only abhorrent but also runs against the grain of constitutionality and the principles of separation of powers as propounded by the 18th century French philosopher, Guy Montesquieu. Judicial independence is the concept that the judiciary needs to be kept away from the other branches of government.

That is, courts should not be subject to improper influence from the other branches of government, or from private or partisan interests. Judicial independence is vital and important to the doctrine of separation of powers. Consequently, the executive control of spending on the judiciary undermines the principle of judicial independence because it creates a financial dependence of the judiciary on the executive. This also breeds corruption of the judiciary through budget planning and privileges, which is the most dangerous form of corruption.

There has hitherto been a raging controversy over state Houses of Assembly being appendages of state governors before the coming into force of the financial autonomy law last week. In fact, the 7th Senate President David Mark, had, while reviewing the activities of parliaments at the state level in 2015, said it was improper that members of the state assemblies have reduced themselves to stooges of their state governors.

Mark, who made the remark at the opening of a week-long induction programme for newly elected state lawmakers organised by the National Institute for Legislative Studies in Abuja, said the general impression of most Nigerians was that the state Houses of Assembly have remained an appendage of the governors’ offices to the detriment of their constituents.

He noted that it was unthinkable that state Houses of Assembly failed to muster the political courage to vote for their financial autonomy when the first constitutional amendment offered them the opportunity. He described the development as a sad commentary.

It is on the backdrop of this sordid state of affairs and its propensity to promote unbridled corruption at the state level that we commend the gesture of President Buhari in signing into law the bill allowing state judiciary and state Houses of Assembly to directly access funds to their credit, and no longer through the state governors. This feat, once again, amply demonstrates the resolve of the Buhari government to fight corruption and rid the country of its cataclysmic effect. The law will, indeed, allow each of the three arms of government, namely, executive, judiciary and legislature to play their constitutional role of being a check unto the other and thereby enthroning good governance.

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