Lagos State Governor, Mr Babatunde Fashola, SAN on Friday while attending the New Legal Year Dinner (2014/2015), reiterated his total support for the independence of the Judiciary which he described as a necessary requirement for the sustenance of democratic governance.
The Governor who spoke at the City Hall, Lagos against the backdrop of a recent court judgement which pronounced financial autonomy for the judiciary said the truth is that the court decision has created some challenges when considered against the backdrop of practical realities in funding budget proposals.
“The truth is that there has been a decision that has created some difficulty and in the tradition of our profession, the right to contest a decision that creates difficulty is a right that we have come to take as almost God given, challenging to seek to modify it and where possible to seek to reverse it. That is not the same thing as disagreeing with an independent judiciary.
“An independent judiciary is a necessary requirement for the sustenance of our democracy and the rule of law but a judgment has been given that all of the monies standing to the credit of the judiciary must be paid to it”, he stated.
He, however, explained that the practicability of the situation is that whenever a budget proposal is presented at the beginning of the year, the cash to fund that budget is not in anyone’s pocket but accrues on a day to day basis.
He added that in a State like Lagos, the cash to fund the budget comes from a combination of monthly remittances from the Federal Government which is paid at the end of the month and the daily payment that accrues from Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) as well as renewal of permits and payment for Land Use Charge among others.
“I would like to learn the practicality of collecting those money on a day to day basis and handing them over to the judiciary. That is the difficulty that we are facing and we are thinking of how to find a practical solution to giving effect to what we belief in, which is that the judiciary must be self accounting. We have no problem at all about it. We have appealed but we are not disagreeable to working out a solution”, he stated.
The Governor who also spoke about concerns being expressed by some people on the issue of ensuring that justice is done in terms of a collapsed structure of a faith based organization that resulted in loss of life gave a commitment that justice would be done.
“Let me assure you that justice would be done but we would not resort to mob justice because that is not our way, this government is a government of methods. When incidents like these happen, there is a mixture of tragedy, possible accidents and possible crimes. It is only by painstaking investigations, collection of evidence that we can really get to the root of the matter”, he said.
The Governor reiterated that at the point when he went to the scene, emergency responders were still at the stage of rescue, trying to see if more lives could be saved and that some people were impeding the operation of the emergency responders hence he had to ask such people to leave.
He said his visit turned out to be fortuitous because one person was brought out alive noting that another hour under the rubble may have been fatal for the survivor.
According to the Governor, with the completion of that process evidence have been gathered while tests are going on in the way the law requires the State Government to proceed, stressing that: “We are at the next stage when those who lost loved ones are grieving and want to bury them and we need to assist them to deal with the very painful part. We are struggling to identify bodies”.
“We have opened up a centre asking people to come forward who are relatives so that they can give tissues and samples so that we can begin a very difficult and painful process of DNA identification. That is the point where we are, without prejudice to the investigation that is going on. That is where we are. We would not be stampeded into doing anything that is not supported by the processes and methods that are in consonance with the law.
