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The Chief Judge of Akwa Ibom State, Justice Ekaette Obot, has decried the shortage of judiciary staff in the state, saying that the last recruitment exercise was done 14 years ago.
Speaking while addressing the opening session of the 2024/2025 Legal Year in Uyo, the state capital on Monday, the CJ called on the state government to grant the judiciary a special leave to recruit more staff in the state.
Obot, who noted that the state’s judiciary had been grappling with debts due to the non-release of funds throughout 2023, called on the government for the regular release of funds to the judiciary to enhance its effectiveness in the dispensation of justice.
“We, therefore, plead with His Excellency for regular release of funds to maintain our facilities all over the state for optimal performances of the judges, magistrates, chairmen of district courts and district funds to service debt liabilities.
“Another challenge is the fast depleting number of staff through retirement and in some cases, death. The last recruitment into the Akwa Ibom State Judiciary was in 2012. Since then, the staff have been retiring and to date, 40 per cent of the workforce has left the judiciary without replacement.
“Within the last two years, an unprecedented number of 316 staff have retired. When staff retire, they exit the service with their skills and knowledge. When retirement goes on for many years without regular replacements, many skills and competencies are lost.
“To address the shortage of staff, we resort to signing one staff to cover the schedule of two and sometimes three duties and also employ the use of temporary hands. This device cannot be sustained in the long run. We, therefore, trust that this new legal year, the governor would grant us leave to recruit more staff,” Obot stated.
She also used the occasion to call for the proper education of inmates within correctional centres to ensure they get basic primary and secondary education and skills acquisition to reform them.
In his remarks, Governor Umo Eno, who spoke during the Church service at Oua Iboe Church, assured the judiciary of his administration’s cooperation to enhance the quick dispensation of justice.
