The Lagos Advocacy Group has rejected the proposed inclusion of provisions relating to Law Officers and State Counsel in the amendment of the Magistrates’ Court Law of Lagos State, 2015, describing it as an inappropriate attempt to introduce matters concerning the Executive arm of government into legislation principally regulating the Judiciary.
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The group set out its position in a statement dated 5 September 2026, signed by its Convener, Comrade Yakubu Eleto, Esq., who is also Publicity Secretary of the Nigerian Bar Association, Epe Branch.
It urged the Lagos State Government and the Lagos State House of Assembly to withdraw the contentious provisions.
The group’s central argument is one of separation.
Magistrates, it said, are judicial officers and part of the Judiciary, while Law Officers are officers of the Executive attached to the Ministry of Justice and employed within the framework of the Lagos State Public Service. The two cadres are constitutionally and administratively distinct, making it difficult to justify placing provisions on the conditions of service of Law Officers inside legislation concerned with the administration, structure, jurisdiction and operation of Magistrates’ Courts.
It noted that the principal legislation being amended did not originally purport to regulate the conditions of service of Law Officers, and said introducing such provisions through an amendment raises questions of legislative propriety, transparency and the proper limits of amendment legislation.
The statement is careful to separate its objection from the rest of the Bill.
The group said it had no objection to measures aimed at improving the welfare and conditions of service of Magistrates, and that efforts to strengthen the Magistracy, retain experienced judicial officers and improve the administration of justice in Lagos should be encouraged.
It acknowledged that the proposal to raise the retirement age of Magistrates from 60 to 65 years, and years of service from 35 to 40, could deserve consideration given the importance of experience in the administration of justice.
It said the proposed increase in the monetary jurisdiction of Magistrates’ Courts from ₦10 million to ₦25 million could also be considered, provided appropriate safeguards are put in place and the capacity and welfare of the courts are comprehensively reviewed.
But it cautioned that reforms intended to strengthen the Magistracy should not become a vehicle for an unrelated policy on Law Officers.
“If the Lagos State Government genuinely considers it necessary to extend the retirement age of Law Officers, there is an appropriate and transparent legislative route for achieving that objective,” the statement said.
The group raised a welfare complaint alongside the legislative one.
It alleged that some newly appointed Magistrates still have no official vehicles more than three years after appointment, and are compelled to commute to work on motorcycles, commercial tricycles or taxis.
It urged the Government to make the provision of official vehicles part of a comprehensive welfare package, and to ensure that newly appointed Magistrates receive vehicles within three months of appointment.
On the proposal to extend the service years and retirement age of Law Officers, the group questioned why that cadre should receive preferential treatment within the state public service.
It asked why Law Officers should be singled out when doctors, healthcare professionals, engineers, teachers, accountants, planners, surveyors, architects, administrators and other public servants also provide essential services to the state.
At a time when governments are contending with institutional capacity challenges, manpower shortages and the need to retain experienced professionals, it argued, selectively altering the service conditions of one cadre without a broader policy framework raises questions of fairness and administrative consistency.
The group also questioned the process.
It said it had gathered, though informally, that the provisions concerning Law Officers were not openly presented as part of the legislative consideration attributed to the original sponsor of the proposal, Hon. Ladi Ajomale.
It called for greater transparency, and urged that any proposed reform of Law Officers’ conditions of service be made the subject of a clear policy statement and proper consultation with stakeholders, undertaken through the appropriate Public Service and legislative framework and applied fairly and consistently across the service where justified.
It further urged the House of Assembly to safeguard the integrity of its legislative processes by subjecting the amendment to rigorous scrutiny, saying an amendment Bill should not be used to introduce an entirely new subject matter unrelated to the principal legislation without adequate justification, consultation and transparency.
The group warned that the controversy could carry wider political consequences, given the role of civil servants in the state and the approach of another election cycle, and said selective amendments could create unnecessary resentment among other categories of public servants.
It called on the Governor of Lagos State and the Speaker of the House of Assembly to reconsider and discontinue the provisions seeking to extend the retirement age and years of service of Law Officers through the amendment.
“If the Government wishes to reform the conditions of service of Law Officers, let it do so through the proper legislative and administrative channels and within a comprehensive framework applicable to the Public Service,” it said.
While commending genuine efforts to strengthen the Magistracy and improve access to justice, the group urged that such reforms not become entangled with what it described as a controversial and selective attempt to confer special treatment on one category of public servants.
“This is not a battle against Law Officers. It is a battle for fairness, legislative integrity and the preservation of proper constitutional boundaries,” the statement said.
The complaint here is about drafting practice, and it is a better complaint than that phrase makes it sound.
An amendment Bill takes its legitimacy from the principal law it amends. Where a statute governing the constitution, jurisdiction and administration of Magistrates’ Courts is used to alter the retirement terms of Ministry of Justice lawyers, the provision is not merely misplaced; it is placed where it will attract the least scrutiny, since stakeholders following a Magistracy Bill are not the stakeholders affected by Public Service reform. That is the substance of the objection, and it holds independently of whether extending Law Officers’ service is a good idea.
The constitutional framing carries less weight than the group gives it. A State House of Assembly is competent to legislate on both subjects, and there is no rule that a single enactment may not touch judicial and executive matters. What there is, is a strong convention that an amendment should stay within the scope of the law it amends, and a stronger expectation that a new policy should arrive with its own Bill, its own memorandum and its own public hearing. The group is on firmer ground arguing propriety and transparency than arguing nullity.
The fairness point is the one likely to travel furthest. If teachers, doctors and engineers in the same service see one cadre of lawyers granted five extra years while their own terms are untouched, the resentment will not stay confined to the Ministry of Justice. That is a political calculation as much as a legal one, and the group has said so plainly.
Then there is the detail that will outlive the rest of the statement. A Magistrate exercising judicial power over civil claims that may soon reach ₦25 million, arriving at court on a commercial tricycle three years into the job, is a picture that argues for itself. If the Bill is genuinely about strengthening the Magistracy, the welfare package is where that intention will be tested, not in the retirement age.
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