Barrister Muhammad Shehu is the chairman, Bauchi State chapter of the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN). In this interview with our correspondent, Abdullahi Idris he bared his mind on various issues affecting his union in the state. EXCERPS:
You just took the mantle of leadership, what are your blueprints sir?
First of all, let me start by appreciating God for bringing us to this moment and equally appreciating my members for giving me the overwhelming support and elected me for second term. It shows higher level commitment from them and it shows the unity in purpose.
Of course, l have a blueprint; first of all, welfare of my members is very paramount in my policy document and it is significant to put smiles on their faces and also to look critically and effectively at the conditions of service. We are working tirelessly in ensuring the judicial arm of government becomes autonomous financially in accordance with the best global practices.
That means, it is independent judiciary would do the needful without any interference, whatsoever. l will like to used this moment to commend the Bauchi State Government for considering some of our applications and we believe more are in the pipelines in the best interests of judicial workers.
Autonomy has three layers such as the personal, the capital projects and overheads, so Bauchi State Government has already granted us partial autonomy and now, as we speak, the state government has given us autonomy in terms of the overhead costs, and we are still pushing for the remaining ones that have to do with personal and capital projects, and we believe once this is realised, judiciary will be indelible.
You also mentioned that you’ll improved the the welfare of your staff, how would you go about it?
Exactly, the government in her wisdom asked us to come up with proposed plans that will cater for the welfare of our staff, and all these are already in the pipelines for full scale considerations.
How many members to do you have in the entire state ?
So far, we have about 2,000 registered members across the state, with one 1,200 from high court, and then about 800 from Shariah Court of Appeal respectively, and some from Judicial Service Commission
Is there any criteria for someone to be a member, must you be a lawyer?
The only criterion for membership is to be a staff of the judiciary in the state, and one should be of standing moral integrity and commitment to the allegiance of the judicial core values, principles and respect to the rule of law.
What are some of the challenges you faced in your first tenure?
We have faced so many challenges, we found the union indebted from left, right and centre, collected illegally by the past leadership, and we found series of court cases, and we later addressed such squarely in accordance with the law and effective judicial guidelines, and then we had series of issues with unity among members, but now such has been resolved amicably, and we are very proud to say that we are now united.
Many people believed there is delayed in justice dispensation in Nigeria, what is your take on this as a lawyer?
There is this saying in a law, that justice delayed is justice denied. What brought about such delay are the issues of lack of structures. When you go round the place, you will discovered that there are no enough court rooms, these equally affect quick dispensation of justice considering larger numbers of courts cases in many places.l think of that will be taken care of by the government, it will reduce the delay in the administration of justice. We are also working tirelessly in creating synergy among stakeholders and the staff of the judicial system. We are doing our best in the areas of capacity building training among others.
Do you have any message of hope?
Let the whole society have much confidence in the judiciary, and this will be an added encouragement for an effective justice dispensation to thrive. l am calling on all our members to have 100 percent faith in our leadership.