The Governor of Cross River State, Ben Ayade has approved new salaries and welfare packages for judicial officers in the state with immediate effect from August 1, 2022.
He made the announcement at the Executive Chamber of the Governor’s Office, Calabar, noting that the salaries of the state’s High Court judges and the customary Court of Appeal will be increased by 100 per cent while those of the Magistrates Court would be increased by 50 per cent.
The Governor also granted all judicial officers in the state immediate land allocation and approved new recruitment into the state’s judicial service.
He said, “As a matter of state government’s policy, any judicial officer sworn in will have his or her official car ready for delivery.
“We have witnessed massive vacancy in the Ministry of Justice occasioned by retirement. To this effect, we have approved for the Chief Judge with the support of the Head of Service and the Civil Service Commission, the employment of 500 workers in the Ministry of Justice for the first phase alone.”
According to him, his administration has “approved the setting aside of 25 per cent of the gross emoluments to support judicial officers’ allowances in terms of vacation, travels, among others.”
He noted that he addressed the “immediate challenges of the state judiciary and pledged the support of his administration to that arm of government in accordance with the report of the State Judicial Welfare Review Committee he set up in April.”
The Committee which was charged with reviewing the salaries of Cross River state judicial officers had retired Justice Eyo Effiong Ita as Chairman and the state’s Head of Service, Timothy Ogbang Akwaji as Secretary.
“For our judicial officers, we know the challenges of this country. For Cross River State, in particular, we are quite sensitive to all the concerns raised so far. That is why we set up a committee to review the conditions of service of judicial officers to make for better service delivery.
“So having studied the report of the committee and in order to enhance service delivery, Cross River State government has hereby handsomely reviewed their salaries and welfare,” he added.
He lauded the state Chief Judge, Justice Akon Ikpeme “for her diplomatic, studious and consistent push in achieving these goals.”
