Why Nigeria’s judgment debt has risen to N150bn -AGF

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi and Musa Adamu

The Attorney -General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami, who doubles as the Minister of Justice, has said that the debt judgements incurred by the Federal Government has risen to N150bn.
The AGF made this disclosure when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters.
He said the bills accumulated over the years because the ministry was not well funded regularly to meet its obligations, and therefore, appealed to the Senate to appropriate N30bn to the Ministry annually to defray the debts.
According to him, “The Ministry of Justice was mandated to take inventory and explore avenues for the payment of judgement debt which has become hydra-headed.
“This has arisen because it was only in 2017 that the sum of N10bn was disbursed for the payment of judgement debt as appropriated.
“As it stands, the sum of over N150bn remains unpaid, prompting beneficiaries of this sum to keep mounting pressure on the Ministry.
He added “Distinguished members of this committee are hereby respectively requested to intervene on this long standing vex issue by appropriating the sum of N30bn annually to mitigate this challenge.
“It will also forestall possible friction, accrued interests and unwarranted litigations arising from our failure to effect payment.”