President Bola Tinubu, has celebrated retired Supreme Court judge, and immediate past Chairman, Body of Benchers, Justice Mary Odili, CFR, who clocks 72 today.
A statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Media nd Publicity, Mr. Ajuri Ngelale, said Tinubu “extends his heartfelt to Justice Mary Odili, CFR, on the special occasion of her birthday.”
Justice Odili, an eminent jurist, who served as the Deputy Chairman of the National Judicial Council (NJC), was also President of the National Association of Women Judges of Nigeria (NAWJN), and Chairperson of the Body of Benchers, where she led pioneering reforms, such as retooling the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee by constituting three panels, thus expediting their processes and ensuring efficiency, and reviving the Body of Benchers’ mentoring programme for all young lawyers (0-7 years post call), among others.
“President Tinubu celebrates the legal savant not only for her outstanding achievements in her calling but especially for her work in uplifting the downtrodden and providing succour to the needy,” Ngelale continued in the statement.
“The President fondly recalls the many community development programmes and relief efforts of Mrs. Odili as the First Lady of Rivers State, some of which include, The Adolescent Project (TAP) where education, health improvement, social rehabilitation, and empowerment services to vulnerable adolescent girls were advanced, directly impacting over 500,000 citizens, and which went on to win the Global Health Council Award for Safe Motherhood in Washington D.C, in May 2001.
“As Justice Odili marks this birthday, President Tinubu wishes the esteemed jurist and the Odilis many more years of service to the nation in good health.”