JUST IN: Tinubu Signs New Bill Into Law

President Bola Tinubu, on Thursday, signed the bill on uniform retirement age for judicial officers into law, two weeks after his assumption of office.

The President signed the bill into law at the Council Chamber of the Presidential Villa in Abuja, making it the first bill signed by the President.

GWG.ng learned the constitutional bill seeks to extend the retirement age of High Court Judges and others from 65 to 70 years, while the retirement age of Justices of the Appeal and Supreme Court is already pegged at 70.

The proposed alteration was entitled ‘Constitution of The Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (Fifth Altercation) (No.37) Bill, 2023’.

The bill also seeks to ensure uniformity in the pension rights of judicial officers of “superior courts of record” specified in section 6(5) of the 1999 constitution (as amended).

The courts listed in section 6(5) are the Supreme Court, Court of Appeal, Federal High Court, High Court of Abuja, High Courts of States, Sharia Court of Appeal, National Industrial Court, and Customary Courts of Appeal, among others.

This development comes a day after a report by TheCable said the immediate past Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, advised former President Muhammadu Buhari to decline assent to the bill.

In a memo dated May 23 and addressed to the office of the Chief of Staff to the President, Malami told Buhari that approval of the bill would create a “huge financial and unexpected burden” for the federal government.

The former minister said the bill appears to be “far-reaching, unduly wide, ambiguous”, adding that it made no “justification” for the extension of retirement age and benefits for judges.

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