The Ministry of Justice said its 860 lawyers were being paid N258 million annually as robe allowance.
The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, stated this while appearing before the Senate Committee on Judiciary and Human Rights and Legal Matters during the 2022 budget defence at the National Assembly.
Malami gave details of the lawyers’ allowance when Senator Emmanuel Orker-Jev (Benue) raised questions about the ministry’s personnel cost and its total number of lawyers.
The ministry’s 2022 budget of N11.3bn has N4.3bn as overhead cost and N3.9bn as personnel cost.
Amazed by Malami’s submission, the senator said, “I used a robe more than 10 years.”
The chairman of the committee, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, however, interjected, explaining that the allowance was to make the lawyers presentable in court.
