By Ikechukwu Nnochiri
ABUJA — The Federal Government has kickstarted the process of upgrading the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) to a National Anti-Corruption Court.
The CCT is presently a quasi-judicial body that tries officials accused of acting in breach of the code of conduct for public officers in the country, especially on matters relating to failure to declare assets and abuse of office for personal gain.
It handles cases that were investigated and referred to it by the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB).
The CCT has handled high-profile cases over the years, including that of President Bola Tinubu, a former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Walter Onnoghen, as well as a former Senate President, Bukola Saraki.
President Tinubu had, on January 20, 2025, appointed Dr. Mainasara Kogo to head the tribunal as its Chairman.
In a statement the CCT made available to newsmen through its Acting Director of Litigation, Mr. Yahaya Laraski, it disclosed that the Chairman, Kogo, is working with the National Assembly, through the Attorney-General of the Federation and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), on an Act, in the form of an Executive Bill, to change the name of the tribunal.
Laraski disclosed that the proposed National Anti-Corruption Court would take the form of a full-fledged court with seven judicial divisions across the country, with the mandate to try all corruption-related cases.
According to him, “The new leadership has repositioned the status of the Chairman to that of the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, and that of members to judges of the Federal High Court.”
He revealed that the Kogo-led panel of the CCT inherited over 1,037 pending cases from the previous administration, with the matters remaining unresolved for five to ten years due to lack of adjudication.
“The honourable Chairman directed that all pending cases be referred to the CCB for thorough scrutiny. The CCB is currently reviewing the files and will determine which cases should proceed. The Tribunal is awaiting the Bureau’s response.
“To modernise case procedures, the Tribunal has drafted new Practice Directions. The existing Practice Direction is outdated and does not incorporate key provisions of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015 (ACJA) and the Proceeds of Crime (Recovery and Management) Act (POCA),” Laraski added.
He said the proposed new procedures have since been submitted to the CJN, the Supreme Court, the Chairman of the CCB, the AGF, and the Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federation, for consideration.
Noting that the CCB filed only six cases before the tribunal between December 2025 and May this year, Laraski said the Kogo-led panel has, since it came on board, introduced a series of reforms aimed at strengthening the fight against corruption.
“Since the assumption of office by the current Chairman, the tribunal has remained active in handling high-profile cases filed by the Code of Conduct Bureau.
“In the course of these proceedings, the tribunal has granted orders for the freezing of accounts belonging to various individuals and companies, as well as the temporary forfeiture of assets.
“A new spirit of dispensing with cases has been introduced by the new Chairman, whereby, within a week of any case being filed by the Code of Conduct Bureau, the Chairman directs the tribunal to sit and dispense with it immediately.
“Therefore, as of July 10, 2026, when the tribunal embarked on its annual vacation, there was no unattended case pending from the Bureau (CCB) in the records of the tribunal (CCT).”
However, the CCT’s Acting Director decried the fact that one of the challenges “is that the inflow of cases to our tribunal is determined only by the discretion of the Code of Conduct Bureau. Any case they bring is the one we can adjudicate upon.”
“There is gross inadequacy of funding because we hardly get our N2 billion budget funded by the government.
“We do not have even housing and a motor vehicle for our Chairman, let alone many directors who do not have official vehicles.
“Government should assist in the provision of furniture, ICT equipment, and capacity building for the staff.”
He revealed that out of the three landed properties of the CCT that were illegally sold, two have been recovered.
“One is the official residence of the Chairman, and the second is the North Eastern states zonal office, located in Bauchi.
“Another achievement is the creation of seven new departments, in addition to the existing three.
“Furthermore, all pending staff promotions have been effected, while 13 fresh allowances have been introduced.
“The staff, within one year, have attended over 20 streams of capacity-building training programmes,” the statement further read.
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