Nigeria's Senate passes bill increasing retirement age of High Court judges
The bill seeks to extend the retirement age of High Court judges from 65 to 70 years.
Nigeria's National Assembly has directed its Clerk to transmit a Constitution Alteration Bill which approves a 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" on Tuesday.
The bill seeks to extend the retirement age of High Court judges from 65 to 70 years.
Currently, the mandatory retirement age of the country's Court of Appeal and Supreme Court justices is 70. Therefore, the bill seeks to bring the retirement age of High Court judges to be at par with that of the justices of the two appellate courts.
“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,” said Deputy Chief Whip of the Senate, Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi.
