When the 2026/27 legal year opened in Port Harcourt, Governor Siminalayi Fubara, speaking through his deputy, lifted the judiciary’s overhead budget by half. Sceptics will smell strategy. I see a correction that was long overdue.
Begin with need. At that same ceremony, the governor conceded that courts lack buildings and staff, carry crushing caseloads and keep litigants waiting too long. The Chief Judge pressed for more personnel and better working conditions.
Overhead pays for the everyday running of a court, the welfare of its workers and the training of its judicial officers. Starve it, and cases crawl. The losers are ordinary citizens, not politicians.
The law points the same way. Nigeria’s Constitution directs that money due to a state judiciary be paid straight to the heads of its courts. Adequate funding is an obligation, not a gift.
Still, honest readers will question the timing. Rivers courts sat close to the centre of the political storm, and the Chief Judge rebuffed the Assembly’s request for a panel to probe the governor. Some will suspect a thank-you note. That worry is fair, and it deserves a direct reply.
Mine is this: you buy favours when something is at stake. Mr Fubara abandoned his bid for the APC governorship ticket, saying he did so for the sake of stability in Rivers, and added that he would serve out his term. Without a ballot to win, he has no election to purchase.
He still holds office and political interests, and no one should pretend otherwise. That calls for vigilance, not deprivation. A cash-strapped court is easier to lean on than a well-resourced one. Independence needs money that is adequate and openly accounted for.
So the useful question is not whether to fund the courts but how to guard the funding. The Chief Judge should publish what the extra money buys, from court buildings to staff welfare to training. The Assembly, the Bar and civil society should track every naira.
The governor promised to honour the courts’ autonomy and to supply funds without strings. Rivers people should insist on both.
