The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, has promised to make sure that infrastructure is in place before land is allocated in the territory.
During a meeting on Thursday with the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice John Tsoho, the minister emphasized the lack of economic rationale in allotting land in inaccessible areas.
Justice Tsoho urged the minister to take the judiciary into account in land allocation.
In reply, Wike reaffirmed his unwavering reverence for both the Judiciary and the Legislature, underscoring his dedication to the principles of equality and independence across all three branches of government.
He further noted that President Bola Tinubu had given him a directive to allocate land to key officials in the three arms of government. In response to this, he is currently working on a phased allocation plan to fulfill this mandate.
He said; “Like you rightly said, I believe that the three arms of government must work together even though independently and I believe that no arm of government should be treated lesser than the other.”
“Without the judiciary, our democracy cannot survive. Nigerians are talking about the judiciary today because of the role you play and so whatever is required to strengthen the judiciary is not over-demanding.”
“Before now, the President had given me the go-ahead to allocate lands to the Legislature, the Executive and the Judiciary. What remains now is how it should be done because the number is too much. What we have decided to do is to do this in phases. All cannot be done at the same time.”
“Some allocations were done in the past but unfortunately, some of the places are inaccessible. I think it is baseless to allocate land where people have no access, that is, infrastructure. It does not make any sense. So, we will allocate lands to you in places that are accessible”.
Previously, Justice Tsoho praised Wike for his consistent backing of the judicial branch of government, highlighting that as governor, the well-being of judicial officers in Rivers had become a model for others in different states.
He also suggested that Wike’s remarkable track record in Rivers likely contributed to his current position.
“I commend Your Excellency’s bias for the judiciary and you have always seen it as your primary constituency. The welfare of the Rivers state judiciary was second to none and you raised the bar so high that it became the envy of judicial officers in other states.”
“It is with that confidence that we bring the anguish of the FHC to you. The peculiarities of our job due to transfers takes us to several places. Consequently, we are denied various forms of policies for enhancing the welfare of judges since we are not part of the judiciary of those states and failure to cater for our interests at the Federal level makes us stateless.”
“I kindly urge your excellency to use your good offices in allocating landed property to FHC judges. We appreciate our large number and recommend that this be done in batches, scattered across the FCT”, he requested.
Justice Tsoho also informed the minister about the upcoming golden jubilee celebration of the Federal High Court scheduled for December.