Why we oppose raising judges retirement age –Senior lawyers
Nigeria’s body of senior advocates has rejected the call to raise the retirement age of judges and make them life benchers.
A senior lawyer, Thompson Okpoko, said this in his speech, delivered at the valedictory session in honour of Justice Ejembi Eko.
Okpoko, representing the body, said, “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 mature enough to adopt the retirement age of justices of the U.S.
“This is because the society and social set-up of the U.S. are 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 workers, who provide assistance to the justices in real time. Personal staff are appointed on the basis of competence and efficiency,” he said.
The senior lawyer said the Nigerian judicial system was not at par with that of the United States.
“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,” he said.
