The place and role of african youth in preindependence african governance systems 19 20 1. This conference set 1st april 1960 as the date for nigeria s independence. It came up in 1944 under the leadership of the then governor sir arthur richards and it forms the very first constitution amendment in nigeria. Political and constitutional development in nigeria pdf. The preindependence constitutions of nigeria were body of rules impose on the people by the british government. This constitution shall have the force of law throughout nigeria and, subject to the provisions of section 4 of this constitution, if any other law including the constitution of a region is inconsistent with this constitution, this constitution shall prevail and the other law shall, to the extent of the inconsistency, be void. Other governance systems in the postindependence era and their unique features, if any. History of nigerian constitutional development 1914 1960. Constitutional development in nigeria from 1914 till date. The nigerian independence constitution of 1960 oldnaija. Although nigeria was purported to have gained independence from the british, there were still some vestiges of imperialism in the independence constitution.
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. In its entirety, a constitution is a set of organizing principles, laws or rules by which a state, country, group or region is governed. One of them is that the queen was still the head of state,who was represented by a nigerian. The constitutional development of the country saw the 1946 arthur richard constitution that really defined nigeria in terms of regions. A nationwide general election was held to the federal house of representatives in april 1959. History of nigerian constitutional development the jet. 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. 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.
This constitution introduce the elective principle into nigeria. Historical development of the nigerian constitution. On this page you can read or download political and constitutional development in nigeria pdf download in pdf format. 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. The constitutional development in nigeria from 1914 till date can be divided into two generation. The purpose of this constitution all amendment was to. The first preindependence constitution in nigerian was the clifford constitution of 1922.
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