President Bola Tinubu has defended his government's decision to remove the Federal Capital Territory Administration from the Treasury Single Account, saying the move unlocked crucial funding for infrastructure projects. Tinubu made the remarks on Monday as he commissioned two separate projects serving the judiciary and legal profession in Abuja, represented by Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume.
The president spoke at the opening of an Office Annex for the Body of Benchers and ten four-bedroom staff quarters at the Nigerian Law School in Bwari. He said the FCT's exit from the TSA gave local administrators the financial speed and flexibility needed to bypass bureaucratic delays and deliver critical projects.
"When we pulled the FCT Administration out of the Treasury Single Account, there were skeptics," Tinubu said. "But we did it because local administration must have the liquidity, the speed and the corporate flexibility to interface with financial institutions and deliver critical projects without bureaucratic strangulation."
He credited FCT Minister Nyesom Wike with transforming the policy into tangible results across Abuja's infrastructure landscape. The minister resolved the Nigerian Law School's decades-old land title dispute by securing its Certificate of Occupancy, Tinubu noted.
"When I appointed Minister Wike, I gave him a clear mandate to transform Abuja into a modern, functional and world-class capital city," the president said. "Over the last three years, the scale of infrastructural development, urban renewal and project delivery in the FCT has been unmatched."
Tinubu pushed back against critics who claim that providing infrastructure to the judiciary amounts to executive interference in the independence of that arm of government. He framed such investment as a constitutional responsibility rather than overreach.
"The provision of infrastructure for the legal community and the judiciary is not an interference in the independence of another arm of government," he said. "Rather, it is a constitutional and collaborative duty of the Executive to ensure that those who interpret and uphold our laws are provided with an environment that fosters operational efficiency and excellence."
The president stressed that quality accommodation for Law School staff directly impacts the calibre of legal professionals trained there. He rejected the notion that world-class legal systems could emerge from deteriorating physical facilities.
"We cannot build a world-class legal system with dilapidated infrastructure," Tinubu said. The federal government is also funding a new auditorium, additional student hostels and digitisation of the Law School's operations.
Beyond the Law School, his administration is investing in the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal, magistrates' courts and residential quarters for judges across the justice sector. Tinubu said his government committed not merely to governing but to reforming and rebuilding broken institutional structures.
At the Body of Benchers' Office Annex commissioning in Abuja's Institution and Research District, he reinforced this message. The project, he said, demonstrated his administration's unwavering commitment to the rule of law and institutional strengthening.
