Supreme Court, SANs reject calls for upward review of retirement age

The Body of Senior Advocates of Nigeria on Monday rejected calls by some stakeholders to increase the retirement age of judges and make them life benchers.

Thompson Okpoko, who represented the body of SANs, said this on Monday while delivering his speech at the valedictory session in honour of Justice Ejembi Eko, who retired having attained the age of 70.

Okpoko said that while some stakeholders have called for the upward review of the retirement age for judges, others have suggested that supreme court justices should be made life benchers as in the United States’ supreme court.

“Although this suggestion looks attractive, especially against the backdrop of frequent retirement in recent years of justices, who look very well and strong at their retirement age.

“These suggestions are not feasible for now as our country is not developed and matured enough to adopt the retirement age of justices of the U.S.,” he said.

“This is because the society and social set-up of the U.S. not the same as the society and social set-up of Nigeria where our justices serve.

“American judges have full complements of highly trained qualified and efficient personal staff, who provide assistance to the justices in real time. Personal staff are appointed on the basis of competence and efficiency’’.

According to him, our own system has not developed to that stage. There is no provision in place for providing each justice of this supreme court, a full complement of such personal staff to assist their lordships.

“How many special consultants and researchers do we have in place? The facilities are simply not in the Nigeria court system.

“It is, therefore, not wise to consider increasing the retirement age of our serving justices for now. We do not have to adopt to our country, a retirement age suitable for USA but unsuitable for our country’’.

The News Agency of Nigeria recalls that Afe Babalola, a senior advocate of Nigeria, had, in April 2021, advocated for the retirement age of supreme court justices to be increased from 70 to 100.

Support PensionNigeria financially with N1,000 per Month HERE, or with any amount HERE
Empower us to do more independent analysis of the Pension Industry in Nigeria

Subscribe to PensionNigeria Daily News Broadcast on WhatsApp, just send “Subscribe” to 08160052802, PLEASE ensure you also save 08160052802 to your contacts as “PensionNigeria” to enable you receive the PensionNigeria News Broadcast.

Subscribe to PensionNigeria Daily Newsletter and get Today’s Top Pension News delivered straight into your email box every Evening.
If you have subscribed before and you still do not receive our Newsletter, please check your “Spam Folder”, if you find our Newsletter there, mark it as “NOT SPAM” or move it to your Inbox

Pension is Your Right,
An Insurance for Old Age
Follow PensionNigeria on Social Media LinkedIn Twitter Instagram Facebook YouTube