TheCable

Ifeanyi Okowa, governor of Delta, says the state judiciary has been granted financial autonomy.

Okowa stated this on Tuesday when he held a meeting with Marshal Umokoro, chief judge of the state.

In a statement after the meeting, the governor added that with the development, the state legislature and judiciary now have full autonomy.

“Earlier today, at a meeting with the chief judge of Delta State, Justice Marshal Umukoro, and other judges in the state’s judiciary, I was pleased to announce that in line with the law, Delta state’s judiciary has been accorded full autonomy,” Okowa said.

“This is because, with my signing of the judiciary autonomy law in January 2021, and the setting up of the relevant committees by the chief judge, our great state has begun the process of implementing full autonomy for its judiciary.

“As we work to improve our democratic processes across the board, we are proud that Delta State now has both a legislature and judiciary that are fully autonomous.”

On May 22, 2020, President Muhammadu Buhari signed into law the executive order 10 which made it mandatory for all states to include the allocations of both the legislature and the judiciary in the first-line charge of their budgets.

However, with the delay by state governors to carry out implementation of the order, the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) embarked on a nationwide strike which commenced on April 6, 2021.

Meanwhile, the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) has scheduled a meeting for May 19, to deliberate on the executive order 10.