A Supreme Court judge, Justice Mary Peter-Odili, yesterday, retired after attaining the retirement age of 70.
\nSpeaking at the valedictory court session held in her honour, Mrs Peter-Odili lamented the spate of violent crimes in Nigeria, which she attributed to youth unemployment.
\nAt the event, which held at the Supreme Court in Abuja, the retiring apex court justice, who is the wife of a former Rivers State Governor, Dr Peter Odili, warned that the \u201curgency of what we are all faced with right now calls for necessity in tackling them.
\n\u201cThe massive unemployment of tertiary institution graduates is a tip of the icebergs.
\n\u201cThe millions of idle youth is not unrelated to the insecurity on the ground,\u201d she said.
\nShe said the current strike action by public universities\u2019 lecturers, which has lasted over three months, has compounded youth restiveness.
\n\u201cThe situation is not helped by the perennial strikes which leave students idling away.\u201d
\nIn tackling the problem, Mrs Peter-Odili suggested that \u201cthe Head of State should take on the garb of minister of youth, employment and social welfare.\u201d
\nDrawing from her experience as a former first lady in Rivers State, Mrs Peter-Odili said with the president assuming the role of employment minister, he would direct \u201cthe implementation of what is put in place without middlemen\u201d hijacking the process.
\nShe advised state governors to adopt same strategies in dealing with youth unemployment.
\nMrs Peter-Odili advocated the urgent \u201crestructuring\u201d of Nigeria.
\n\u201cMy humble view is that the issue (of restructuring) should be given an immediate attention.\u201d
\nRecalling her over four-decade judicial career, she thanked her husband, Dr Peter Odili, and colleagues for their support.
\nIn his remarks, the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Tanko Muhammad, poured encomium on Mrs Peter-Odili for her \u201cirrepressible voice in the temple of justice.\u201d
\nMuhammad described the retiring jurist as the \u201cepitome of jurisprudential finesse.
\n\u201cWe are honouring an amiable lady of alluring qualities and excellence that transcend the legal profession,\u201d he said.
\nThe CJN noted that Mrs Peter-Odili \u201coffered the best of her intellect to the advancement of the legal profession through her several years of inimitable adjudications at different levels of courts in Nigeria.
\n\u201cShe is a specimen of hard work, industry, discipline and high moral rectitude,\u201d Muhammad said.
\nSimilarly, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Wole Olanipekun, praised the retiring justice for her contribution to Nigeria\u2019s judicial system.
\nBut, Olanipekun, who spoke on behalf of the Body of Senior Advocates of Nigeria, said the \u201clegal profession today faces a lot of problems.
\n\u201cPolitical cases are responsible for the tagging of Judiciary as \u2018supermarket.\u2019\u201d
\nHe pointed out that the Supreme Court cannot be \u201cinsular.
\n\u201cWhere the Supreme Court gives a judgement in error, it should reverse itself,\u201d adding that \u201cforum-shopping\u201d where lawyers shop for favourable court decisions \u201chas to be addressed.\u201d
\nOn his part, the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, represented by the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Beatrice Jedy-Agba, noted that Mrs Peter-Odili followed the path of honour during her time as justice on the bench of the Supreme Court.
\nHe, however, called on the judiciary to embrace technological innovation to ensure a more effective and efficient justice delivery system.
\nMrs Peter-Odili bowed out of service after attaining the 70 years mandatory retirement age.
\nShe was born on May 12, 1952, to the royal family of Bernard Nzenwa in a highly commercially inclined community of Amudi Obizi, Ezinihitte-Mbaise Local Government Area of Imo State.
\nShe made headlines last October after 15 suspected invaders, including a suspected police officer, invaded her house to purportedly execute a search warrant.
\nThe suspects are currently standing trial at the Federal High Court in Abuja.
\nJustice Mary Ukaego Odili was appointed an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria (JSC) by President Goodluck Jonathan and was administered the oath of office by Chief Justice Katsina-Alu on 23 June 2011.
\nPrior to becoming SCN justice, she held numerous important offices, including Judge, High Court of Rivers State (1992\u20132004), Justice, Court of Appeal, Abuja Division (2004\u20132010), and Presiding Justice, Court of Appeal, Kaduna Division (2010\u20132011).
\nShe served as the First Lady of Rivers State during her husband\u2019s tenure as governor.
\nMary Ukaego Nzenwa was born on 12 May 1952 in Amudi Obizi, Ezinihitte-Mbaise Local Government Area of Imo State.
\nShe is the second daughter of Eze Bernard Nzenwa and Ugoeze Bernadette Nzenwa.
\nHer father, Eze Nzenwa worked as a lawyer in the United Kingdom during 1959 before he was made Secretary of the Nigeria Airways.
\nUkaego attended a number of primary schools as a child including St Benedict\u2019s Primary School, Obizi Ezinitte, St Michael\u2019s Primary School, Umuahia, St Agnes Primary School, Maryland and Our Lady of Apostles Primary School, Yaba.
\nShe briefly attended Our Lady of Apostles Secondary School, also in Yaba, Lagos.
\nFollowing the outbreak of the civil war in 1967, Ukaego and her parents relocated to the southeast of the country.
\nThere, she continued her education at Owerri Girls High School until her family moved back to Mbaise.
\nShe then attended Mbaise Girls Secondary School and later enrolled at the Queen of the Rosary College in Onitsha.
\nIn 1972, she passed with Grade I (aggregate 6) in the West African School Certificate Examination.
\nThe same year, Ukaego gained admission into the University of Nigeria, Enugu campus where she read law.
\nIn her second year in the university she earned a scholarship for maintaining the second class upper division league with higher scores.
\nShe met Peter Odili, a medical doctor, at a campus party and the two began a romantic relationship. In 1976, she graduated with an LLB (Hons) and was rated the best student of the department of commercial and property law.
\nShortly after, she attended the Nigerian Law School and received her B.L. certificate in 1977, before embarking on her youth service in Benin City and Abeokuta. Odili was serving as a House Officer in Benin City at the time.
\nUkaego commenced her career in the judiciary as a Magistrate grade III in November 1978. She married Odili in 1979 and gave birth to a daughter, Adaeze.
\nUkaego and her family moved to Port Harcourt city where her husband founded his medical centre Pamo Clinics.
\nBetween 1980 and 1988, Ukaego served as Chief Magistrate Grade I, Chairman of the Juvenile Court, President, Marine Board of Inquiry into the 1979 Buguma Boat disaster, Chairman, Constitution Drafting Committee of the University of Nigeria Alumni Associates, Inaugural Chairperson of the International Federal of Women Lawyers (FIDA) Rivers State and Secretary, Nigerian Horticultural Society.
\nWith her support, Odili entered politics and served as member and leader of Rivers State Delegates to the Constituent Assembly.
\nIn 1992, while she was a High Court Judge, Odili was serving as the Deputy Governor of Rivers State.
\nIn 1999, following her husband\u2019s election as governor, Ukaego became the First Lady of Rivers State, serving until 29 May 2007.
\nShe had held the offices of Justice, Court of Appeal, Abuja Division and Presiding Justice, Court of Appeal, Kaduna Division.
\nOn 3 May 2011, President Jonathan nominated Ukaego with two other Appeal Court Justices to the Supreme Court.
\nIn the new arrangement, she will represent the South East geo-political zone in the apex court bench.
\nIn a letter to the Senate, Jonathan said their appointment was necessitated by the retirement from service of Justices Niki Tobi, I.F. Ogbuagu, J.O. Ogebe and G. A. Oguntade.
\nUkaego was appointed an Associate justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria (JSC) on 23 June 2011.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A Supreme Court judge, Justice Mary Peter-Odili, yesterday, retired after attaining the retirement age of 70. Speaking at the valedictory court session held in her honour, Mrs Peter-Odili lamented the spate of violent crimes in Nigeria, which she attributed to youth unemployment. At the event, which held at the Supreme Court in Abuja, the retiring […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":294599,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[688],"class_list":["post-294567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-front-pix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=294567"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294567\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":294585,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294567\/revisions\/294585"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/294599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=294567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=294567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=294567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}