Human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Femi Falana, has faulted the Federal Government’s decision to hand over houses exclusively to judges, describing the move as troubling and raising questions about its legal foundation.
Falana said he was deeply disturbed after seeing government officials presenting house keys to members of the judiciary, insisting that such welfare initiatives should not single out one arm of the public service at the expense of others.
“It was very sad when I saw that the Federal Government was handing over the keys of houses to judges and I asked myself, under what law are we operating from?” he said.
According to the senior lawyer, government welfare policies should be guided by fairness, transparency and the rule of law, rather than selective benefits for particular groups of public officials.
He argued that if housing and other welfare programmes are to be funded with public resources, they should be implemented equitably across the entire public service to avoid perceptions of preferential treatment and protect public confidence in state institutions.
Falana’s remarks have reignited debate over the Federal Government’s welfare policies and whether benefits provided to one category of public officers should be extended to others under a uniform legal framework.
About The Author
