{"id":282733,"date":"2018-06-27T11:24:01","date_gmt":"2018-06-27T10:24:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nigerianfinder.com\/?p=282733"},"modified":"2019-08-05T13:52:11","modified_gmt":"2019-08-05T12:52:11","slug":"types-of-constitution-in-nigeria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nigerianfinder.com\/types-of-constitution-in-nigeria\/","title":{"rendered":"Types of Constitution in Nigeria"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Constitution of Nigeria is also known as the Supreme Law of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. From 1914 to date, the country has had a series of constitutions with the current constitution passed on the 29th of May 1999.<\/p>\n

In this post, you\u2019ll learn the different types of constitution in Nigeria and how they\u2019ve evolved over the years from the colonial era to the fourth republic.<\/p>\n

The country\u2019s first set of constitutions were enacted by the Order in Council during the colonial era. It would be recalled that Nigeria was once a British Colony.<\/p>\n

Types of Constitution in Nigeria<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"types<\/p>\n

This first set of constitutions was passed in the following years: 1914, 1922, 1946, 1951 and 1954.<\/p>\n

The constitution of 1946 was passew when the Westminster Style Parliamentary Constitution was enacted in the country.<\/p>\n

This constitution reserved effective power in the hands of the Governor-General and his appointed Executive Council.<\/p>\n

It was named after the Richards Constitution as the Governor-General at that time Sir Arthur Richards was responsible for its formulation.<\/p>\n

The Richards Constitution provided for an expanded Legislative Council which was empowered to deliberate on matters affecting the whole country. Also, there were separate legislative bodies called the houses of assembly which were established in each of the three regions to consider local questions and to advise the lieutenant governors.<\/p>\n

Additionally, there was the introduction of the federal principle which was based on the recognition of the country\u2019s diversity.<\/p>\n

The basis of the Federal Principle was to ensure that deliberative authority was delegated to the regions from a central source.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, it was later discovered that this constitution didn\u2019t promote political unification but rather regionalism.<\/p>\n

As a result, there were calls for greater autonomy and this led to the suspension of the Richards Constitution in 1950. Subsequently, an inter-parliamentary conference was held in Ibadan that same year and a new constitution was drafted during this conference.<\/p>\n

The new constitution was called Macpherson Constitution, name after the incumbent Governor-General, John Stuart Macpherson and it went into effect in 1951.<\/p>\n

The McPherson Constitution emphasized the importance of political unification while not neglecting regional autonomy.<\/p>\n

The constitution extended the elective principle and provided for a centralized government with a Council of Ministers. Also, the Macpherson Constitution gave renewed impetus to party activity and to political participation at the national level.<\/p>\n

However, the regional government allowed for by the McPherson Constitution still gave a significant boost to regionalism.<\/p>\n

This was revised in the Lyttleton Constitution which was named after Oliver Lyttelton and enacted in 1954. This constitution firmly established the federal principle and paved the way for independence.<\/p>\n

When Nigerian became an independent country in 1960, the Independence constitution was enacted by a British Order in Council. Under this constitution Nigeria retained Queen Elizabeth II as titular head of state.<\/p>\n

In 1963, the country enacted its second post-Independence constitution which was implemented on the 1st of October 1963. The 1963 constitution was based on the Westminster system and it was in use until the military coup in 1966 that overthrew Nigeria’s democratic institutions.<\/p>\n

In 1979, a new constitution was enacted and it brought in the Second Republic. This constitution abandoned the Westminster system in favour of an American-style presidential system, with a direct election. The 1979 constitution mandated that political parties and the Federal Executive Council positions reflect the “federal character” of the nation. As a result, political parties were required to be registered in at least two-thirds of the States of Nigeria, and each state had to have at least one member of the cabinet from it.<\/p>\n

In 1993, a third republic was ushered in with the 1993 constitution which was enacted in order to bring into power democratic rule. Unfortunately it was never fully implemented as a result of the military coup which led to the return of the country to a military-styled government until 1999<\/p>\n

The 1999 constitution was able to restore democratic rule to Nigeria and the constitution is currently in use. However, there have been two amendments of this constitution which took place in January 2011. These amendments were sanctioned by the President at that time, Dr Goodluck Jonathan.<\/p>\n

Now let\u2019s take a quick look at some of the important points in the current constitution<\/p>\n