With lawyers, residents and businesses footing the bill for a High Court renovation, fresh questions are emerging over why judicial infrastructure has been left to decay despite annual state budgets and constitutional guarantees for judicial funding.
The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Ikom Branch, has done what many argue should have been government’s responsibility—raising nearly ₦18 million through donations from lawyers, communities, businesses and private citizens to restore a High Court that had been abandoned for years in Cross River State.
The renovated High Court II, Ikom Urban, was commissioned by the Cross River State Chief Judge, Justice Akon Bassey Ikpeme, who described the transformation as a restoration of confidence in the justice system.
“The last time I came here I was a bit depressed, but today the story is different,” the Chief Judge said, while pledging improved security at the facility.
Before the intervention, the court had become virtually unusable.
Justice Emmanuel Ubua, the Presiding Judge of High Court II, said the building’s deteriorating condition had made it unfit for judicial proceedings, forcing stakeholders to seek an alternative to years of piecemeal repairs.
According to NBA Ikom Branch Chairman, Tah Edwardson Offre, the association concluded that only a comprehensive renovation—not another round of temporary fixes—could restore the court to a functional standard.
The project delivered a complete facelift, including a new roof, modern furniture, solar electricity, a public address system, replacement windows, repainting and the refurbishment of the judge’s chambers.
But beyond the commissioning ceremony, the project has exposed deeper questions about the state of judicial infrastructure in Cross River.
Lawyers at the event described the renovation as an act of self-help born out of frustration after years of what they called government inaction.
“We will help ourselves if the government is not ready to help us,” several lawyers said.
One legal practitioner, who asked not to be named, said the project was funded entirely through voluntary contributions from legal practitioners, private citizens, host communities and business owners determined to improve access to justice.
The intervention has also reignited debate over the financing of Nigeria’s judiciary.
Although state judiciaries are constitutionally entitled to financial autonomy, legal practitioners have repeatedly complained that capital releases for court infrastructure often fall short of budgetary provisions, leaving many court buildings across the country in disrepair.
The irony, observers note, is that the renovation comes as Cross River continues to approve increasingly ambitious budgets. The state approved a ₦642.16 billion supplementary budget in 2025, with officials saying additional spending would cover key sectors, including law and justice, while Governor Bassey Otu later proposed a ₦780.6 billion budget for 2026.
Yet lawyers say many courtrooms remain dilapidated years after repeated promises of reform. A 2021 investigation documented leaking roofs, abandoned court buildings and unsafe facilities across several judicial divisions in the state, while recent reports indicate the problem persists.
The Cross River Judiciary itself reported generating more than ₦137 million in internally generated revenue during the 2023/2024 legal year, even as concerns over ageing infrastructure continued to dominate discussions within the legal community.
For many lawyers, the renovation of the Ikom High Court is both a success story and an uncomfortable symbol: a justice system increasingly sustained by the very people who rely on it.
As one stakeholder put it, the project may have restored one courtroom—but it has also raised a broader question: if citizens and lawyers can mobilise ₦18 million to revive a neglected court, why has government failed to do the same?
