Kogi State Governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello has approved 60 years as retirement age for Law Officers in the employment of the State and no longer by the length of service.
The Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Ibrahim Sanni Muhammed (SAN) disclosed this at a Two (2) – Day Training workshop for Law Officers, from Kogi State Office of the Public Defender and Citizens’ Commission, PDCRC and Ministry of Justice in Lokoja.
The training was organised by Kogi PDCRC in Collaboration with Mercy Corps to scale up the capacity of PDCRC and Ministry of Justice, Law Officers on Alternative Dispute Resolution and Mediation Skills.
The Attorney General commended the Governor for graciously approving the 60 years retirement age for Law Officers in compliance with Section 1(1) and (4) of the Kogi State Law Officers (Harmonisation with Conditions of Service of Magistrates Etc) Edict, 1994.
The Hon Attorney General stated that this is in response to Section 82(1)(a) of the Magistrate Courts Law of Kogi State, 2020, which His Excellency assented to in September 2020 and which amongst others provides that “a magistrate shall cease to act as a magistrate where: he attains the age of Sixty (60) years”.
According to the Attorney General, the approval by His Excellency would ensure that the system benefits maximally from the skill and experience of such Law Officers on whom the state government has invested hugely by way of human resource development.
Muhammed said that the new Magistrate Law and the approval of Sixty year’s retirement for law officers have further repositioned Justice Sector in the State to perform optimally with experience.
“The Judiciary has commenced the implementation of this law since 2020 in the determination of retirement age for Magistrates in the State,” he said.
He, therefore commended the Governor for extending the same gesture to law officers in the state in accordance with the Harmonization Edict.
Commenting on the development, the Director General of PDCRC, Barr. Abdullahi Zakari, commended the Governor for once again, demonstrating his commitment to the rule of law and towards the justice sector in the State.
He stressed that a lot of reforms had happened in the Justice Sector under the administration of His Excellency, and he should be commended.
According to Zakari, “Of great note, is that the approval came when the Federal Government has just signed into Law, a Constitutional amendment harmonizing retirement age for Judicial Officers”.
He called on law officers to reciprocate His Excellency’s gesture by bringing to bare their years of experience in the discharge of their responsibilities.