*AGF Says No Administration Has Supported the Judiciary Like Tinubu’s, Cites 300% Increase in Judicial Welfare, New Courts and Residential Quarters
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*PCA Dongban-Mensem Says Court of Appeal Operated with Only Two Courtrooms, New Complex with 10 Courts Will Allow 20 Panels to Sit Daily
Vice President Kashim Shettima, representing President Bola Tinubu, has commissioned the newly constructed Court of Appeal Abuja Division Building Complex at Plot 68, Sector Centre B, Daki-Biu District, Abuja, describing the edifice as “not just a building but a statement that under the Renewed Hope Agenda, the rule of law will have a befitting home,” and calling on the justices who will occupy it to ensure that “justice is swift, pure, and blind to status, pride, or prose.”
The commissioning, which took place on Monday, June 15, 2026, marked the fourth day of a 31-day programme of project inaugurations led by the FCT Administration to commemorate the President’s third anniversary in office. The event was attended by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun; the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem; the Attorney General of the Federation, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN; the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike; the Minister of State FCT, Dr Maria Mahmoud; serving and former senators; justices of the Court of Appeal from various divisions; and other dignitaries.
The Vice President’s Address
Reading a speech on behalf of President Tinubu, Vice President Shettima opened by acknowledging the condition from which the Court of Appeal was being rescued.
“My Lords, for too long the Abuja Division of this court operated from a cramped, temporary space, and that was unacceptable. A nation that seeks justice must respect the temple of justice. When I visited and saw the condition, I gave a simple instruction: Fix it. And today we have fixed it,” the President’s statement read.
He commended FCT Minister Wike for the speed of delivery: “When I appointed you as the minister of the FCT, I knew you would not sleep. You took the assignment to deliver this project in May 2024. By July, contractors were on site. You promised 16 months. You delivered in record time. No excuses, no variation. Well done, Barista.”
On the significance of the complex, the President’s statement noted: “With two large and eight smaller courtrooms, legal cases will now receive speedy attention. This will go a long way to ensure that there is justice for all, uphold the rule of law, maintain law and order in the federal capital territory, and reduce congestion in our correctional centres. This is how you honour the judiciary. This is how you strengthen democracy.”
The Vice President delivered the President’s charge to the justices: “To my Lord Justices, as you move into this complex, Nigeria asks one thing of you. Let justice be swift. Let it be pure. Let it be blind to status, pride, or prose. Let the common man feel that this court is truly his last hope.”
He also commended the indigenous contractor, Visible Construction Limited, saying the project “shows that local companies have the capacity to deliver high-quality projects on time. This is the Nigeria we are building.”
The President’s statement affirmed the administration’s broader commitment: “The Renewed Hope Agenda is not a slogan. It is action. We said we would restore the dignity of our institutions. We are doing it for the judiciary. We are doing it in health, in education, in roads, in power. Brick by brick, we are rebuilding Nigeria.”
PCA Dongban-Mensem: “A Dream Come True”
President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem, described the commissioning as “a dream come true,” revealing the severe constraints under which the Abuja Division had been operating.
“At present, the Abuja Division operates with only two courtrooms, along with very limited administrative office space. This lack of infrastructure has continuously slowed down the timely administration of justice, especially given the heavy case load handled by the division,” Dongban-Mensem stated.
She explained the practical impact of the space limitation: “Even when special sittings are arranged and multiple panels of justices sit at the same time to reduce backlog, the court is often forced to use courtrooms outside its own premises. We have to go pleading with our sister courts.”
She publicly thanked the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, the President of the National Industrial Court, the Chief Judge of the FCT High Court, the Grand Kadi, and the President of the Customary Court of the FCT “for their continuous support and ever willingness to loan to us their court halls. Sometimes they have to suspend their own sitting to accommodate us. I’m happy to say that from today they are relieved of that burden.”
The PCA explained how the 10 courtrooms would transform the court’s capacity: “With 10 courts, what it means is that in a day we can actually sit in 20 panels because when we are tied with urgent matters, as in political matters, we have morning and afternoon sessions. So you can imagine having 10 panels of justices sitting in the morning and then in the afternoon we have another 10, unlike previously when we have just two courts.”
She noted that the commissioning came at a historic moment: the Court of Appeal’s 50th anniversary. “For 50 years, the institution has remained committed to upholding justice and the rule of law. This historical landmark reminds us the future requires even greater vision,” she stated.
Dongban-Mensem recalled how the project came about: “I recall when the Honourable Minister attended the legal year celebration of the Court of Appeal. And we mentioned to him that we are constrained. And the minister saw for himself how files were lying in open spaces, exposed to danger, being that we are a court of record. If anything happened to those records, interests will be affected, rights of citizens will be affected. And the honourable minister promised that he would consult the president and ensure that he found the solution. And that was about a year ago, and today we are celebrating that promise.”
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AGF Fagbemi: “No Administration Has Provided This Level of Support”
Attorney General Fagbemi delivered what amounted to a comprehensive scorecard of the Tinubu administration’s support for the judiciary, declaring that “it is not an exaggeration to state that no administration in Nigeria’s recent history has provided the level of support to the judiciary that we have witnessed under the leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.”
He described the support as “comprehensive, deliberate, and transformational, covering judicial welfare, infrastructure, institutional capacity, and judicial manpower.”
On welfare, Fagbemi highlighted “the historic review of the remuneration and welfare package of judicial officers, resulting in an unprecedented increase of well over 300 per cent. This was the first major upward review in decades and represented a bold response to longstanding concerns regarding the welfare and dignity of judicial officers.”
On infrastructure, he noted that the Court of Appeal complex was part of a broader programme: “The judiciary has received notable attention with this week being the second of the three weeks dedicated to the commission of judicial infrastructure projects. In addition to this court complex, the administration has completed and will commission residential quarters for justices of the Court of Appeal and judges of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, the official residences of heads of courts, and several other critical judicial infrastructure projects.”
On institutional capacity, Fagbemi noted that the administration ensured “Nigeria achieved a full complement of justices of the Supreme Court as constitutionally envisaged,” improving the apex court’s capacity and reducing delays.
He emphasised that the administration has maintained “absolute respect” for judicial independence: “Despite the extensive support and collaboration between the executive and the judiciary, the administration has never interfered and will never interfere with either the administrative autonomy or the adjudicatory functions of the courts. The judiciary has remained free to discharge its constitutional mandate independently, and judicial decisions have been respected.”
Wike: “How Do You Talk About Independence When Somebody Cannot Sit Comfortably?”
FCT Minister Wike, in his characteristically direct style, provided behind-the-scenes details of how the project materialised.
He recalled telling President Tinubu about the Court of Appeal’s condition: “Mr President said, ‘Don’t you think also that he has had a lot of complaints about where our justices and judges are residing?’ So I don’t understand areas where you don’t even know where the criminals are, and they need therefore to start providing befitting accommodation.”
Wike disclosed that Tinubu directed him to extend the intervention beyond the FCT High Court to include the Federal High Court, the National Industrial Court, and the Court of Appeal, asking: “Who are the beneficiaries of the services they render? They are the citizens of Abuja and those who carry on their businesses in Abuja. So you will not restrict yourself to only providing for the FCT High Court.”
The minister announced that residential quarters for Court of Appeal justices would be handed over the following day, Federal High Court judges’ residences on Wednesday, FCT High Court residences on July 7, with flag-off for National Industrial Court and Code of Conduct Tribunal residences the next day.
On the project’s delivery, Wike revealed he had visited the site at least 20 times, including two consecutive days before the commissioning, personally inspecting the work and demanding corrections where standards were not met.
He posed a direct question to the assembled dignitaries about funding: “Cannot have development when there’s no fund. All of us are happy, we are clapping hands. But have you asked yourself, have you played your own role as expected of good citizens? How many of us here have paid our ground rents, our tenement rates? So it’s not enough to clap.”
He addressed the justices directly: “If you know you have not paid your ground rights, consider that the land will no longer belong to you. We’ll give it to those who can pay us the ground rent for us to build public infrastructure.”
Wike also addressed the philosophy behind the investment: “You can’t talk about the independence of the judiciary when the judiciary does not have a befitting environment where they can carry out their functions. How do you talk about independence when somebody cannot sit comfortably, carry out his or her duties? When somebody doesn’t have a good fitting home to stay and do their work?”
He highlighted the scaling of project commissioning under the administration: nine days of commissioning for the President’s first anniversary in 2024, 19 days for the second anniversary in 2025, and 31 days for the third anniversary in 2026.
The FCDA Executive Secretary, Engineer Richard Yonana Douda, provided the project overview. The complex sits on a 6,814 square metre plot with a total building floor area of approximately 10,000 square metres, designed as a cascading structure of up to five storeys.
The facility includes two large courtrooms each seating over 100 people, eight smaller courtrooms seating up to 50 each, a library, an office for the President of the Court of Appeal, 10 justice suites including the presiding justice’s suite, three conference halls, administrative offices, filing and storage rooms, general and private conveniences, a gatehouse, generator house, pumping room, water storage facility, and asphalt-paved parking areas.
The complex is designed to support digital systems including electronic filing, digital record management, and infrastructure for virtual and hybrid court hearings. The contract was awarded to Visible Construction Nigeria Limited in July 2024.
The commissioning ceremony also coincided with the birthday of the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem, whose birthday fell on Saturday, June 14.
The Court of Appeal Abuja Division Building Complex was formally commissioned on Monday, June 15, 2026, by Vice President Shettima on behalf of President Tinubu.
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