Afe Babalola, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), says the retirement age of Supreme Court Justices should be increased from 70 to 100.
He said the justices become more experienced and wiser as
they get older, hence, should be allowed to remain on the bench.
The lawyer made the call on Wednesday at the virtual launch
of books in honour of Bode Rhodes-Vivour, a retired supreme court justice.
“There is urgent need for reform of our judicial system.
This is with particular regards to age of judges, most especially those at the
Supreme Court,” he said in a statement signed by Tunde Olofintila, director,
corporate information, Afe Babalola University (ABUAD).
“Experience has shown that a person becomes wiser and more
experienced as he advances in age. Under our judicial system today, Justice
Rhodes-Vivour is retiring at the age of 70 when he has not shown any sign of
physical weakness and when Nigeria would have benefitted more from his wealth
of wisdom, insight and experience.
“A brief look at other countries shows that appointment to
the Supreme Court is a lifetime appointment. There is no age limit for a
justice of the Supreme Court to retire. Often times, they stay as long as they
probably can.
“In fact, many die while in office. But those who opt for
retirement, the average age is 78 years. The average retirement age has grown a
whooping 103 years in other climes.”
The chancellor of Afe Babalola University also advocated
that retiring judges should be allowed to practice law.
“Even, if judges are not allowed to return to full practice,
there should be a measure of participation in law practice that will ensure their
relevance in the nation’s development of law,” he said.
“I suggest that Nigeria should adopt the quasi-restrictive
style, which is in operation in the U.S. whereby a sitting judge may recuse
himself in the case of conflict of interest or allow retiring judges to prepare
and draft pleadings, motions and appellate briefs.”
Babalola said the position of the chief justice of Nigeria
(CJN) should not be based on promotion but strictly on merit.
“I know from experience that the best judges are those who
have been in active litigation, who have interacted with clients, who have
drafted claims and pleadings and who have addressed legal issues at different
level of the courts,” he said.
“This is why in other climes, judges are chosen from seasoned
legal practitioners. I recall the case of late Justice Teslim Olawale Elias,
SAN.
“He was appointed as CJN and President, International Court
of Justice. He was Attorney-General of the Federation when he was a Professor
at the University of Lagos and was invited to the Supreme Court where he
eventually became the CJN.
“I have always been an advocate of a new constitution to
correct the ills inherent in the 1999 Constitution bequeathed to Nigerians by
the military and christened a people’s constitution.
“We truly need
restructuring in this country today and that will assist us in many diverse
ways as we as enable us have a truly federal constitution as a result of which
there would be a change in the mode of election and the type of people we would
elect to govern us.”
Babalola described Nigeria’s constitution as “the greatest
problem” of the country.
He said the only way Nigeria can change for the better “and
pave way for the enhancement of a more united Nigeria is to restructure”.
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