HISTORY OF NIGERIAN CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENTINTRODUCTION:
The importance of a constitution in any
given society cannot be overemphasized. The constitution, in Nigeria’s
situation, is the supreme law of the land which all acts of individuals
and of parliament must not contravene. It is the fundamental and organic
law of a nation or state that establishes the institutions and
apparatus of government, defines the scope of governmental sovereign
powers, and guarantees individual civil rights and civil liberties.
It is trite that one of the sources of a
constitution is other constitutions. This is the major concern of this
present work. The aim of this work is to trace the history of Nigeria’s
constitution from the 1922 constitution to the 1979 constitution. This
will help us to understand better, how previous constitutions have been
fashioned for Nigeria and will go a great length in making us understand
the source of our present constitution from the looking glass of
constitutional history.
BACKGROUND:
After the annexation of Lagos by the
British in 1861, a legislative and executive council was constituted for
it. 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. However, they
each had separate legislative councils. In 1874, the Gold coast and
Lagos were formed into a separate colony with a governor and legislative
council based in the Gold coast. In 1886, Lagos became a separate
political entity with its own Governor, executive and legislative
councils. In 1906, the protectorate of Southern Nigeria and the colony
of Lagos were amalgamated and called the colony and protectorate of
Southern Nigeria. By Article 4 of the Southern Nigeria Protectorate
Order in Council 1906, the Legislative Council of Lagos was empowered to
make laws for the protectorate of Southern Nigeria by ordinance.
In 1914, the Colony and Protectorate of
Southern Nigeria was merged with the Protectorate of Northern Nigeria
and they were referred to as the Colony and protectorate of Nigeria. The
legislative council was this time allowed to make law for only the
colony. The governor made laws for the protectorates. Lord Lugard said
the reason for this was “until communications by railway are greatly
extended,the proposition is physically impossible”. This was due to the
large size of the country.
In place of a legislative council for
the country, there was established an advisory body called the Nigerian
council. It had 30 members of whom 17 were officials and 13
non-officials. Of the non-officials, four were nominated by the governor
to represent commercial, shipping, mining and banking interests. while
the Lagos Chamber of Commerce, Calabar chamber of commerce of chamber of
mines appointed one member each. The remaining members were Nigerians
appointed by the governor.
THE 1922 CONSTITUTION
On assuming office in 1919, Sir Hugh
Clifford, the governor, was pressured by the then West African congress,
led by Caseley Hayford, to provide constitutions in West African
subject states. This led to the making of the Clifford constitution of
1922. It introduced the first electoral system in Nigeria. The first
election was conducted into the legislative council with four slots:3
for Lagos while 1 for Calabar. However, the election was based on
limited franchise which restricted the election to those that earned a
minimum of 100 pounds annually, which was very expensive for most
Nigerians.
It also introduced a legislative council
which replaced the Nigerian council. It consisted of 46 members with
the governor as the head. Out of the 46, 23 were official members and 19
were unofficial members. The remaining four were elected as previously
stated. However, the council could only legislate for the South. The
governor legislated for the North via proclamation.
There was also an executive council,
however, it had no Nigerians. It consisted of the governor, chief
secretary, lieutenant governors, an administrator for Lagos, attorney –
general, commandant of the Nigerian regiment,director of medical
service, Comptroller general and Secretary for native affairs.
After Hugh Clifford, there were two
other governors, Cameroon and Bernard Boudillion. They didn’t do much in
terms of constitutional development. However, Boudilion divided Nigeria
into East, West and North for administrative purposes. This was the
bedrock for future regionalism.
THE RICHARDS CONSTITUTION
Before, the end of 1944, the then
governor, Sir Arthur Richards provided a new proposal for constitutional
amendment. This was as a result of pressure being mounted on him by the
educated elites. They felt that the Clifford Constitution did not
represent the indigenous population. Therefore, the governor introduced
the constitution which had the following aims:
• To promote Nigeria’s unity
• To provide adequately within that desire for the diverse elements that make up the country
• To provide greater participation of Africans in the determination of their own affairs.
The constitution provided for a new
legislative council, it had: The governor, 16 official members, and 28
unofficial members. Of the 28, two were nominated by the governor while 4
were elected. The North had 11 members, the West had 8 members while
the East had 6 members. The elected 4 were from Lagos and Calabar. Also,
the constitution made the council legislate for the whole country.
The constitution also provided for
regional houses of assembly. The members of the regional assembly were
nominated by the native authority. However, they weren’t legislative
bodies. They were just grounds for discussing national issues. Also, it
was from the house of assembly that members were nominated to the
legislative council. The East and West had unicameral legislature while
the North, in addition to a house of assembly, had a house of chiefs.
Also, the constitution reduced the
amount of the limited franchise from 100 pounds to 50 pounds. This is
considered as a plus because more people could vote and be voted for.
However, it was still too expensive for most Nigerians.
The executive council in Lagos also had for the first time,Nigerians. they were Sir Adeyemo Alakija and Bankole Rhodes.
Despite all these improvements compared
to the Clifford constitution, the constitution still had some defects.
First, it limited franchise to only Lagos and Calabar. Also, the money
required for the right to vote was still too expensive for most
Nigerians. Also,the regional houses of assemblies could not make laws,
they were merely grounds for public discussion. The constitution also
did not include the elites. This is because those nominated into the
regional houses of assembly and the legislative council were nominated
by the native authority.
MACPHERSON CONSTITUTION
Due to the above criticism of the
Richard constitution, it was felt that a new constitution was needed.
The governor, Sir John Macpherson, not wanting to make the mistake his
predecessor made, decided to include Nigerian in the constitutional
making process. There was wide consultation of Nigerians even to the
village levels. Also, there was the Ibadan conference of 1950. The
result of all these was that it led to the creation of the Macpherson
constitution.
The constitution provided for a federal
legislature called the house of representatives. It had 136 elected
representatives, 6 ex-officio members and 6 nominated by the governor.
68 members were from the North, 34 from the West and 34 from the East.
It also provided for regional
legislatures that could make laws for their regions.The legislatures in
the West and North were bi-cameral, each having a house of chiefs
alongside the regional legislature. In the East, it was a unicameral
legislature. It was also from the regional legislatures that members
were nominated to the legislative council.
LYTTLETON CONSTITUTION
Despite, the improvements in the
Macpherson constitution, it could not keep Nigerians united. It
collapsed soon due to problems from the legislature. In 1953,Anthony
Enahoro of the A.G proposed on the floor of the house that Nigeria
should be given independence in 1956. The Northerners, who felt they
were not ready for independence, opposed this. They proposed that
independence should be given ‘as soon as practicable’. This led to been
booed in Lagos. This led to a riot in Kano in reaction to what happened
in Lagos. Also, the North threatened to secede.
In order to calm things down, the then
colonial secretary, Oliver Lyttleton called the leaders for a conference
in London. Some issues were discussed during the conference and
committees were set up.Their reports were to be considered in the Lagos
conference of 1954. It was the conference that led to the Lyttleton
constitution.
The constitutional conferences of 1953
and 1954 held in London and Lagos respectively gave birth to the
Lyttleton constitution. The constitution fully introduced a federal
system,with North, East, West and Southern Cameroons. While the Federal
capital territory was in Lagos.
Judicially, the West African court of
appeal was abolished. There was a supreme court for Nigeria and
individual high courts for the regions. However, the highest court of
appeal was the judicial committee of the privy council. The Eastern and
Western regions became self-governing in 1957 while the North became
self-governing in 1959. Southern Cameroon through a referendum opted out
of Nigeria.
THE INDEPENDENCE CONSTITUTION
On 1st October 1960, Nigeria became
independent. This meant that Nigeria was a sovereign state independent
of colonial influences. However, this was not fully the case. The Queen
was still the head of state,although she was represented by a Nigerian
in the person of Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe who was the Governor-General while
Tafawa Balewa was the Prime minister.
The constitution was like the 1954
constitution but with some changes. There was the inclusion of
provisions for acquiring citizenship of the country. There was also
included in the constitution provisions for the procedure for amendment
of the constitution. Judicially, Judges of the courts were appointed
through nomination by the judicial service commission upon the assent of
the privy council. The privy council was also the highest court of
appeal in the country.
The constitution divided legislative
powers between the center and the regional legislature. It made
provisions for an exclusive legislative list. It also made provisions
for a concurrent list. Items in the exclusive list were to be legislated
by only the central legislature. Items in the concurrent list were to
be legislated upon by the central legislature and the regional
legislatures. Items not included in any of the lists were regarded as
residual lists which were within the sole purview of the regional
legislature.
It also provided for a dual executive.
This meant that we had the Head of State and the Head of Government in
two different people. The head of government was Nnamdi Azikiwe while
the head of state was Tafawa Balewa. The head of state had only
ceremonial functions while the head of government had executive powers.
He was responsible for the day to day running of the activities of
government.
The constitution also provided for its
supremacy. This was in contrast to the convention in a parliamentary
system. In a parliamentary system what we have is parliamentary
supremacy, not constitutional supremacy.However, due to the
heterogeneous nature of Nigeria, the constitution had to be supreme in
order to dissuade fears of domination of minority groups.
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.
Also, the highest court of appeal was the Judicial committee of the
privy council in the house of Lords instead of the Nigerian Supreme
court.It was due to these that a new constitution had to be made. This
was the 1963 republican constitution.
THE 1963 REPUBLICAN CONSTITUTION
The republican constitution was passed
into law by the federal house of representatives on September 19, 1963,
and came into force on 1st October 1963. This was after the
constitutional conference held in Lagos on July 25 and 26 1963 where
issues bordering on the real independence of Nigeria were resolved.
One of the main features was that the
queen of England ceased to be the head of state. The head of state was
the president who was to be chosen by secret ballot of a joint session
of both houses of the national assembly. the president who was Dr.
Nnamdi Azikiwe was the commander-in-chief of the armed forces.
The Supreme court rather than the privy
council became the highest court of appeal in the country. Also, the
judicial Service commission was abolished. The appointment of judges and
their promotion was vested in the prime minister. The power of judicial
review was vested in the Supreme court. It had the power to declare
actions which were contrary to constitutional provisions null and void.
The seats in the senate and house of
representatives were increased. The senate was increased from 44 to
56while the house of representatives was increased fro 305 to 312. The
reason for this increase was the creation of the mid-western state.
Hence, new seats had to be created to accommodate for this.
Despite all these changes in the
constitution,there still some criticisms leveled against it. First was
that the president was elected by the national assembly instead of the
electorates. The national assembly consisted of just a few people in
comparison with the whole electorates. This might end up making the
president loyal to the legislature instead of the people.
Also, the abolition of the judicial
service commission could be said to be a bad move. This is because
leaving the regulation of the judiciary which ought to be independent in
the hand of the executive compromised the judiciary. Judges would not
want to offend the prime minister in order for them to get
promoted,thereby circumventing justice.
Due to political crises in the country,
the republican constitution did not last. On January 15 1966,there was a
coup d’etat which removed the politicians. This brought about military
rule until 1979.
THE PRESIDENTIAL CONSTITUTION OF 1979
In 1975, General Murtala Muhammed came
into power. On coming to power, he promised to bring back civilian rule
to Nigeria. Sadly, he could not see this through as he was assassinated.
His successor, Obasanjo carried on his vision of ushering in democracy.
A 49 member constitutional drafting committee headed by F.R.A Williams
was appointed to make a draft constitution. After they were done, a
constituent assembly headed by Justice Udo Udoma made final adjustments
to the constitution. The constitution was promulgated and it came into
force on 1st, October 1979.
The constitution jettisoned the
parliamentary system of government and replaced it with a presidential
system. The president was both head of state and head of government,
commander in chief of the armed forces. The president was chosen by the
electorates in a general election. He did not appoint his ministers from
the parliament unlike the previous constitution. There was also an
executive governor for each state who was the chief executive of the
state.
The legislature was bicameral which
consisted of senate and house of representatives. The senate had 95
members while the house of representatives had 450 members. The states,
on the other hand had a unicameral legislature. The legislature had the
power to impeach the president. So also, did the house of assembly have
power to impeach the governor.
The judicial service commission was
reintroduced. It had the powers to recommend judges for appointment
subject to assent by the president and screening by the legislature. The
judiciary was also given the power to interpret the constitution and
any declare acts that are contrary null and void.
CONCLUSION:
This work has gone to a great extent of
tracing the constitutional development of the country from 1922 to the
introduction of presidential system of government in 1979. The Clifford
constitution was highlighted. It did not ensure effective representation
so it was opposed by the elites. It was followed by the Richard’s
constitution of 1946 which although was better that the Clifford
constitution, did not not still ensure adequate representation. the
Macpherson constitution succeeded the Richard’s constitution in 1951 but
did not last long due to political crises. The Lyttleton constitution
replaced Macpherson in 1954. It was replaced by the independence
constitution of 1960. This was replaced by the 1963 constitution because
it was imperialistic. The 1963 constitution later truncated by a
military coup. In 1979, a presidential constitution was then introduced.
It is worthy of note that most of the constitutions collapsed due to
the activities of politicians.
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