President Bola Tinubu has signed into law a constitutional amendment bill on uniform retirement age for judges across courts.
The State House Director of Information, Abiodun Oladunjoye, in a statement on Thursday said the president pledged that his administration would strengthen the judiciary and empower judicial officers, ensure the rule of law, and empower judicial officers to execute their responsibilities effectively.
“In exercising the powers vested in him under the 1999 Constitution as amended, President Bola Tinubu on Thursday at the State House assented to a fresh amendment of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“President Tinubu signed into law the ‘Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (Fifth Alteration) (No.37), 2023’ presented by the outgoing 9th National Assembly.
“With the signing of the constitutional amendment Bill, retirement age and pension rights of judicial officers have been effectively brought into uniformity and other related matters.”
The law extends the retirement age of high court judges — and others — from 65 to 70 years.
This brings the retirement of the lower court judges to par with that of the judges of the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.
The Senate had passed the bill on May 3, almost four weeks to the end of the tenure of then President Muhammadu Buhari.
With the concurrent passage of the bill, the National Assembly subsequently directed its Clerk to transmit the Constitution Alteration Bill 20, which approves the uniform retirement age for judicial officers in Nigeria, to the president for assent.
This followed the adoption of a motion titled: “Passage of Constitution (Fifth) Alteration Bill No. 20 (Uniform Retirement Age for Judicial Officers), 2023” at plenary on Tuesday
The motion, which was sponsored by the Chairman of the Senate Ad hoc Committee on Constitution Review, Ovie Omo-Agege, was in line with provisions of the Authentication Act.
“Recall that on Tuesday, April 4, the Clerk to the National Assembly was directed to transmit Constitution Alteration Bill No. 47 (Establishment of State Security Council) after it met the requirement of Section 9(2) of the Constitution to Mr President for his assent.
“Recall also that Sokoto State House of Assembly was among the State Houses of Assembly that were yet to forward their resolution. Others are Gombe, Jigawa, Kebbi, Kwara, Plateau, Sokoto and Taraba State Houses of Assembly.
“Aware that Sokoto state House of Assembly has forwarded its resolution; and convinced that with the approval of Sokoto State House of Assembly, the Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No. 20 (Uniform Retirement Age for Judicial Officers), has met the provisions of Section 9(2) of the Constitution, for passage,” Mr Omo-Agege said.
“This is one of the key elements of the Ninth Senate legislative agenda to reform the judiciary.
“Having a uniform retirement age for the Judiciary will remove the backlog of cases and ensure speedy dispensation of justice,” he said.
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