The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory FCT, Nyesom Wike has committed to prioritizing infrastructure development before allocating land in the territory.
Speaking during a meeting with Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice John Tsoho, the minister stated that allocating land in inaccessible areas lacks economic justification.
Justice Tsoho had requested the minister, urging him to give special consideration to the judiciary when allocating lands.
In response, Wike expressed his deep respect for the Judiciary and the Legislature and emphasized his belief in the equality and independence of all three arms of government.
Wike said that President Bola Tinubu had authorized him to allocate land to key officials in the three arms.
He explained that they were working on a phased allocation plan to implement this directive.
Wike explained the importance of collaboration among the three arms governments while maintaining their independence, highlighting his belief that no arm of government should be treated as inferior to the others.
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”.
Justice Tsoho praised Wike for his consistent support of the judicial arm of government, stating that as a governor, Wike had significantly improved the welfare of judicial officers in Rivers, and became the envy of other states to emulate.
He said that Wike’s impressive track record in Rivers must have 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 to 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.
KanyiDaily recalls that Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara and Nyesom Wike, had a meeting with President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
