…travelling to Appeal Court in Calabar is punishment than fun–Lawyer
By the Guide Newspaper
A lawyer practicing in Akwa Ibom State has raised concern over the failure of Akwa Ibom State government to construct an Appeal Court Complex in Uyo as was captured in the 2025 Budget of Akwa Ibom State Government.
Barr Ekemini Udim raised the concern in a social media post during the week.
A copy of the Akwa Ibom State government 2025 Budget obtained by the Guide Newspaper reveals that Akwa Ibom State government voted N9billion for the construction of an Appeal Court Complex in the State but the project was never executed.
The above findings corroborate with the observation of Barr. Udim in his social media post.
Barr. Udim wrote in his post: “The Governor of Akwa Ibom has presented the 2026 Budget to the House of Assembly (see picture below). By the time of this month, the 2025 Budget will expire. In screenshot No. 2 attached to this post (go to line 16) you will see that 9,000,000,000.00 (Nine Billion Naira) was provided for the CONSTRUCTION OF COURT OF APPEAL COMPLEX in Uyo. It’s a project under the MINISTRY OF JUSTICE. ”
Barr. Ekemini Udim who described the vision of building an Appeal Court Complex in Uyo, as laudable lamented that such project should not be allowed to expire in the budget without being executed.
According to him, ‘We need the Court of Appeal in Uyo. I do not know the content of the 2026 budget. I only hope the project has not been left out. If it is repeated, the Bar should seek implementation within the next budget cycle. For us in litigation, traveling the Calabar road to attend the Court of Appeal has become more of punishment than fun. We shouldn’t have allowed a 9 Billion Naira project to expire in the budget.’
The Guide Newspaper reports that the development contradicts with the claims of Governor Umo Eno who while presenting the 2026 Budget Proposal to Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly had claimed that 89 percent of 2025 budget has been implemented.
