Magistrates in Rivers state have called on the state governor, Siminalayi Fubara to increase their retirement age from 60 to 65 years for better service delivery in the judicial sector.

The Chairman of the Rivers State Chapter of the Magistrates Association of Nigeria, Collins Ali made this call in his keynote address at the 2nd biennial conference of the association at the ceremonial court hall in the Rivers State High Court complex.

The event which was themed ?The Role of Magistrates In Curbing Crime And Ensuring A Peaceful Society? had in attendance magistrates from the different divisions in the state, lawyers, and other judicial officers.

Some of the dignitaries in attendance were the Rivers state governor Siminalayi Fubara who was represented by the Attorney General, Dagogo Iboroma SAN, the Chief Judge, Simeon Amadi who was also represented by retired jurist, Letam Ayordee, and former Justice of the Supreme Court, Mary Odili.

Delivering a keynote address on the governor?s behalf, the Attorney General extolled the role of magistrates in criminal justice delivery saying ?The work you do as magistrates is awesome, and I dare say, without the magistracy there will be no effective judiciary. As earlier said here, you do about 90% of criminal cases, so nobody takes you for a ride.?

In his address however, Magistrate Collins Ali called on the governor to look into the possibility of increasing the retirement ages of magistrates ?Let me use this medium to appeal to the Rivers state Governor, His Excellency, Governor Siminalayi Fubara to set the ball in motion for the increment of the retirement age of magistrates from 60 to 65 years by sending an executive bill to the state assembly for the review of some of the laws directly impacting on the magistracy. Those laws are 1) The Rivers State Magistrates Court Law 2 of 2004, 2) The Law Officers Harmonization With Magistrates Law, Cap 77 Laws of Rivers State of Nigeria 1999, 3) The Judicial And Law Officers Miscellaneous Provision Law Cap 72 Laws of Rivers State of Nigeria 1999?

The conference whichh lasted for three days ended on Friday, with magistrates in attendance brainstorming on the way forward in the area of service delivery. (Channels TV)

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