In 1862, lagos and other british territories in the gold coast, sierra leone and gambia were by a commission dated 19 february 1866, placed under a governor general based in sierra leone. History of nigerian constitutional development the jet. Constitutional development in nigeria from 1914 till date. Opinion a consideration of the constitutional transition and development in nigeria, from the pre independence constitutions which include the 1922 clifford constitution, 1946 richards. Seeming preference for democracy in africa over other governance systems in africa before and after independence 1517 1. In its entirety, a constitution is a set of organizing principles, laws or rules by which a state, country, group or region is governed. No party won an overall majority, and so the npc and ncnc agreed to form a coalition government, while the ag became the opposition party. Historical development of the nigerian constitution.
Part three will deal with the issues and problems in human rights provisions of the constitution. The first preindependence constitution in nigerian was the clifford constitution of 1922. This constitution introduce the elective principle into nigeria. Other governance systems in the postindependence era and their unique features, if any. A nationwide general election was held to the federal house of representatives in april 1959. The purpose of this constitution all amendment was to. This conference set 1st april 1960 as the date for nigeria s independence.
The constitutional development in nigeria from 1914 till date can be divided into two generation. The nigerian independence constitution of 1960 oldnaija. History of nigerian constitutional development 1914 1960. On this page you can read or download political and constitutional development in nigeria pdf download in pdf format. The preindependence constitutions of nigeria were body of rules impose on the people by the british government. The constitutional development of the country saw the 1946 arthur richard constitution that really defined nigeria in terms of regions. Although nigeria was purported to have gained independence from the british, there were still some vestiges of imperialism in the independence constitution. One of them is that the queen was still the head of state,who was represented by a nigerian. Political and constitutional development in nigeria pdf. It is to be noted that reference to the nigerian constitution unless otherwise specifically stated is reference to the 1999 constitution as amended since that is the current nigeria constitution. The nigerian educated elite formed the chunk of those that pressured him to institute the constitution amendment.
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