Supreme Court Dismisses Governors’ Suit Demanding Federal Funding Of State Courts

The Supreme Court in a split decision, on Friday, dismissed a suit filed by the Attorney-Generals of the 36 states of the federation, in which they sought the funding of state judiciaries by the federal government.

In the suit which challenged the widely accepted norm that states are to fund their courts, the plaintiffs argued that it is the constitutional duty of the federal government to fund the capital and recurrent expenditures of states’ High Courts, as well as their Sharia and Customary Courts of Appeal.

But the Supreme Court in its split-decision of four justices against three held that the responsibility of funding state courts lies squarely with the state governments.

In the lead judgement prepared by Musa Dattijo, but read by Centus Nweze, the Supreme Court held that Presidential Executive Order 10 issued in 2020 to shore up the financial independence of state judiciaries and legislatures is “unconstitutional.”

The plaintiffs had argued that the Executive Order violated the Nigerian constitution by seeking to compel state governments to fund the recurrent and capital expenditures of state courts, which according to them ought to be that of the federal government.

Details later…