Retiring Justice of the Court of Appeal, Uzo Ndukwe-Anyanwu, JCA, OFR has said that judges salaries were last reviewed in 2007.
Ndukwe-Anyanwu made this disclosure to journalists in Abuja as her valedictory session is billed for this week in Enugu where she started her career from as a Legal Officer.
Ndukwe-Anyanwu is one of the very few judges in Nigeria who rose through the ranks from being a Deputy Chief Registrar, DCR, to the pinnacle of her chosen profession.
On experience on the job as a judge, she simply said: “This our job is not an easy job because sometimes you say did I do the right thing? You will be battling with yourself, is this the right thing? You know these politicians can be terrible.
“They want so many things; you need the fear of God to be able to see yourself through the woods, they do so many things, they are so conniving and fraudulent you know.
“So sometimes you are even worried, you are not sure you are doing the right thing, not that you want to do anything wrong but you are not sure what these people are saying but I can tell you it is not an easy job.
On the welfare of judges, she said “judges are not being fairly treated in this country, do you know that some judges relocated from their official quarters in Maitama and Asokoro to remote areas like Lugbe, Nyanya after living in high brow areas.
“I have to be honest with you, government has not been fair to judges because the last time our salaries was reviewed was in 2007 and now imagine cost of living in Nigeria, how do you expect judges to cope,” she wondered.
“When we asked government to build houses for us they refused and you expect judges to deliver judgements without bias, when their welfare is not paramount in the eyes of government.
“You know you can’t have the money to build a house, you are a civil servant you can’t, you are just building, one year one block and you won’t be ashamed, for me I am never ashamed. I said even if you don’t finish pack in.
“When I packed into this house, it wasn’t finished, you know what I used to tell people, shebi it is my house, it is when I am going into a rented house, if they don’t finish I won’t pack in but because it is my own, I am doing one room at a time.
On the last general elections, she simply said” it was a terrible experience and that’s a matter for another day.
“My book is in the mill and that will be adequately captured there.
