Lawmaker exposes Chief Justice of Nigeria’s monthly salary

Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad, the Chief Justice of the Federation, earns N279,497 as monthly salary, Luke Onofiok, the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Judiciary has disclosed.

Onofiok stated this on Wednesday, October 6, while moving a motion on the floor of the House on the need to increase the earnings of the judicial officers.

Onofiok, a former Speaker of Akwa-Ibom House of Assembly disclosed that low salaries paid to judicial officers can make them vulnerable to corruption.

He added that the President of the Court of Appeals is paid N206,425 monthly.

He said: “Code of Conduct Tribunal Act restrains Judicial Officers from generally receiving gifts and operating private businesses except farming.”

He explained that the “poor remuneration of judicial officers is a serious threat to the judiciary.”

Consequently, the House resolved to urge the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) to immediately review the remuneration of judicial officers in line with present economic realities.

Formerly a Justice of the Nigerian Courts of Appeal, Tanko began his career in 1982, after he was called to the bar in 1981, the same year he graduated from the Nigerian Law School. In 1989, he was appointed as Chief Magistrate of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, a position he held until 1991 when he became a Judge at the Bauchi State Sharia Court of Appeal.

He served in that capacity for two years before he was appointed to the bench of the Nigerian courts of appeal as Justice in 1993. He held this position for thirteen years before he was appointed to the bench of the Supreme Court of Nigeria in 2006 but was sworn in on 7 January 2007.