The Ministry of Justice yesterday revealed that it pays a sum of N258 million to 860 lawyers in its service as robe allowance.
It said each lawyer is paid N300,000 annually.
The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, gave this revelation when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Judiciary and Human Rights and Legal Matters to defend the 2022 budget estimates of the Ministry.
Senator Emmanuel Orker-Jev had queried the personnel costs in the Ministry during the session.
In response, Malami explained that the total number of lawyers in the Ministry is about 860 and entitled to N300,000 each as robe allowance.
“He said: “860 lawyers are entitled to N300,000 annually as robe allowance.
The Minister responded that “it is an annual payment. It is a tradition.”
The Ministry proposed to spend a total of N11.8 billion for the 2022 fiscal with a personnel cost of N3.9billion, overhead cost (exclusive of Legal Services) of N2.4bn , Legal Services of N2billion and Capital budget of N3.5billion.
