Justice Rose Nonyem Ukeje OFR

The Hon. JUSTICE ROSE UKEJE, OFR, FNLS, was born in Zaria, where her father was plying his Produce trade of Cotton and Groundnut at that time. 

After her primary school education at the Ibo Union School, Kano, and her secondary school education at Queen’s School, Enugu, she proceeded to the University of Nigeria, NSUKKA, to study Law and then to the Nigerian Law School for her professional training and Call to Bar. She practiced briefly in the law firm of A. Obi Okoye and Co. in Enugu. After working briefly in the Ministry of Legal Affairs in Zambia as a Counsel in the Department of Public Prosecutions, she returned to Nigeria in 1973 and joined the Federal Ministry of Justice as State Counsel and worked in the Drafting Department. So it was that her early professional life, her tools of trade were words and phrases all aimed at capturing the intent and objective of legislation, and where need be, the intention of the Legislature, often relying extensively on Judicial Interpretation. 

On the 11th November 1986, she was elevated to the Federal High Court Bench and became the first female Judge to sit on the Federal High Court Bench. She served as a Judge for years until the 24th of October, 2001, when she was appointed as the Chief Judge of the Court; again, the first female Chief Judge to be appointed. 

As the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, she was a Constitutional Member of all the Bodies of the Judicial High Command, namely: The Federal Judicial Service Commission; the National Judicial Council; the National Judicial Institute; the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee, and the Body of Benchers. She combined the demands of those Bodies with the arduous demands of the office of the Chief Judge. 

At the International level, she served as a member of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) for a period of 8 years and functioned as Vice-President, Africa Region, of the same Body at the 8th Session. She was elected as International Director, International Association of Women Judges, based in Arlington, Virginia, USA, and Chairman, African International Association of Women Judges. A member of the World Jurist Association, she was elected as a judge of the Commonwealth Arbitral Tribunal, London (2009-2013). Hon. Justice Ukeje was appointed as a member of the National Peace Committee. She was also inducted into the Hall of Fame of Nigerian Women, which is domiciled in the Women’s Centre, Abuja. 

She was conferred with the National Honour of the “Order of the Federal Republic” (OFR) in 2006, and with the Fellowship of the Nigerian Law School (FNLS) that same year. She is the author of the book “The Nigerian Judicial Lexicon” and has delivered several judgments, papers, and lectures at public fora.