A legal luminary, Chief Afe Babalola, SAN,on Wednesday proposed 100
\nyears as retirement age for Supreme Court Justices from 70.<\/p>\n
This is contained in a statement issued by Tunde Olofintila, the
\nDirector, Corporate Information of Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti,
\n(ABUAD),\u00a0 in Ado Ekiti on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Babalola, founder of ABUAD, made the call at the virtual launch of books
\nin honour of\u00a0 rtd Justice Bode Rhodes-Vivour, CFR, of the Supreme Court
\nto mark his retirement from the bench on attaining 70.<\/p>\n
He canvassed for a review of the age of retirement of judges, especially
\nthose of the Supreme Court Justice from the current 70 to 100 or more,
\nif life service is not possible.<\/p>\n
\u201dThere is urgent need for reform of our judicial system. This is with
\nparticular regards to age of judges, most especially those at the
\nSupreme Court.
\n\u201d Experience has shown that a person becomes wiser and more experienced
\nas he advances in age.<\/p>\n
\u201d Under our judicial system today, Justice Rhodes-Vivour is retiring at
\nthe age of 70 when he has not shown any sign of physical weakness and
\nwhen Nigeria would have benefitted more from his wealth of wisdom,
\ninsight and experience.<\/p>\n
\u201d A brief look at other countries shows that appointment to the Supreme
\nCourt is a lifetime appointment.<\/p>\n
\u201d There is no age limit for a justice of the Supreme Court to retire.
\nOften times, they stay as long as they probably can.<\/p>\n
\u201d In fact, many die while in office. But those who opt for retirement,
\nthe average age is 78 years. The average retirement age has grown a
\nwhooping 103 years in other climes\u201d.<\/p>\n
The founder and Chancellor of Afe Babalola University, also advocated
\nthat under the review, retiring judges should be allowed to practice
\nlaw.<\/p>\n
\u201d Even, if Judges are not allowed to return to full practice, there
\nshould be a measure of participation in law practice that will ensure
\ntheir relevance in the nation\u2019s development of law.<\/p>\n
\u201d I suggest that Nigeria should adopt the quasi-restrictive style, which
\nis in operation in the U.S. whereby a sitting judge may recuse himself
\nin the case of conflict of interest or allow retiring judges to prepare
\nand draft pleadings, motions and appellate briefs\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n
On appointment of judges, he said the position of the Chief Justice of
\nNigeria, was important that it should not be based on promotion but
\nstrictly on merit.<\/p>\n
\u201d\u00a0 I know from experience that the best judges are those who have been
\nin active litigation, who have interacted with clients, who have drafted
\nclaims and pleadings and who have addressed legal issues at different
\nlevel of the courts.<\/p>\n
\u201d This is why in other climes, judges are chosen from seasoned legal
\npractitioners. I recall the case of late Justice Teslim Olawale Elias,
\nSAN.<\/p>\n
\u201dHe was appointed as CJN and President, International Court of Justice.
\nHe was Attorney-General of the Federation when he was a Professor at the
\nUniversity of Lagos and was invited to the Supreme Court where he
\neventually became the CJN.<\/p>\n
\u201d I have always been an advocate of a new constitution to correct the
\nills inherent in the 1999 Constitution bequeathed to Nigerians by the
\nMilitary and christened a people\u2019s constitution.<\/p>\n
\u201d We truly need restructuring in this country today and that will assist
\nus in many diverse ways as we as enable us have a truly federal
\nconstitution as a result of which there would be a change in the mode of
\nelection and the type of people we would elect to govern us\u201d, Babalola
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
He said It would also ensure that the country has part-time legislation,
\nreduce the huge salaries currently being earned by legislators in favour
\nof sitting allowances as well as reduce cost of governance and ensure
\nelections are run at cheaper rates while women representation in
\ngovernance be higher.<\/p>\n
\u201d Our constitution is the greatest problem of Nigeria, the operation of
\nthe constitution is expensive with its attendant over-concentration of
\npower at the centre, thereby rendering the States and Local-Gnvernments
\ntotally impotent unlike what obtained under the Parliamentary
\nConstitutions of 1960 and 1963.<\/p>\n
\u201d I say with emphasis that the only change that can change the country
\nfor the better and pave way for the enhancement of a more united Nigeria
\nis to restructure<\/p>\n
\u201d It is that change that will make politics less attractive, make each
\nstate to develop at its own pace and do away with all shades and shapes
\nof criminality, guarantee employment, eradicate poverty and make
\nindividuals to become true Nigerians.\u201c, he said.<\/p>\n
He described Justice Rhodes-Vivour,\u00a0 as an incorruptible , genial,
\ndecent, and disciplined person as well as a Judge with unquestionable
\nintegrity, character, industry and dignity who others should
\nemulate.(NAN)<\/p>\n
A legal luminary, Chief Afe Babalola, SAN,on Wednesday proposed 100 years as retirement age for Supreme Court Justices from 70. This is contained in a statement issued by Tunde Olofintila,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":79707,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-79706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n