Constitutional Development in Nigeria for Social Studies Degree Student YR 2

History of Constitutional Development in Nigeria

Many centuries before European imperialism in Africa, the unlettered people of Africa had been governing their societies through unwritten constitutions derived from their cultures, customs and tradition. The constitutional history of Nigeria began with the conquest of Lagos in 1861 by the British. This was followed a year after by the declaration of Lagos as a new ‘Crown Colony’ or Settlement (Burn: 1978, pp.130-131) and the introduction of the first colonial Constitution in Nigeria. A Legislative Council comprising a Chief Justice, Colonial Secretary and a senior military officer commanding the imperial forces, was introduced (Olusanya: 1980, p. 518).

The Clifford Constitution of 1922

The difficulty involved in the size of the country was poor transportation and communications, cultural diversity and legal differences between the colony and the Islamized North were among reasons for the exclusion of the Northern Province from the Legislative Council (Tamuno: 1967, p.121). Moreover there was annual budget, expenditure and custom duties that concerned the North that was also discussed by the Council.

The Clifford constitution was important in that it embodied for the first time the principle of election in Nigeria. Out of the 46 members of the Legislative Council- 27 unofficial and 19 official - four of the unofficial members were elected through limited male adult franchise; three from Lagos and one from Calabar. The condition of election was the residential qualification of one year in any of Lagos or Calabar and a gross annual income of £ 100 per annum (Olusanya: 1980, p.522). The Clifford constitution also established an Executive Council to advise the governor. It was not until after 1943 that the first two unofficial Africans were appointed into the Executive Council (Okonkwo: 1962, p.211). Another major effect of the constitution was that it stimulated the formation of political organizations in the country such as the NNDP (Afigbo: 2003, p. 52). This constitution remained operative up to 25 year.

Richard Constitution of 1946

A new constitution proposal was published by, Sir Arthur Richard, the new Governor of Nigeria, published a new constitutional proposal at the end of December 1944 (Olusanya: 1980, p. 524). The constitutional proposal was in response to the demand and agitation by some sections of the country, particularly the more educated south for either self-government or more participation in government. This opinion was articulated by the West African Student Union (WASU) and the National Youth Movement (NYM) (Coleman: 1986, p. 271). The proposals for the new constitution, prepared by the previous Governor, Bernard Bourdillon, were presented to the Legislative Council of Nigeria on March 6, 1945.

 The most distinguished feature of Richard constitution was regionalism. It has been argued that the inclusion of the principle of regionalism in the constitution was a compromise between the radical regional separatists who preferred three strong states and the federalists who wanted the Native authority system linked with the central parliament (Coleman: 1986, p.276).Therefore, the stated objectives of the constitution as presented in the white Paper were:

1.      to promote the unity of Nigeria ;

2.      to provide adequately within the desire for the diverse elements that make up the country; and

3.      to secure greater participation by Africans in the discussion of their own affairs (Okonkwo: 1962, p. 255). According to Coleman (1962: pp274-275), the introduction of regionalism seemed to be attractive to the British for three reasons. First, the idea of regionalism would at least partially assuage the nationalist agitation. Second, it would ensure that the Legislative Council did not grow too large and unwieldy. Lastly, it would also serve as ‘defense against a possible seizure of central power by an educated minority in Lagos’. The composition of the new Legislative Council included the Governor, 16 official members and 28 unofficial members, 24 of whom were nominated by the Governor and the remaining 4 elected.  In addition to two official members, the Northern Province was represented by nine unofficial members. The Western and the Eastern Provinces were equally represented by two officials each and six unofficial and five unofficial respectively (Okonkwo: 1962, p. 255).

            

The Richard Constitution had a few advantages unlike the previous constitution. First, the constitution integrated both North and South for legislative purpose. Second, the income qualification of the aspirants was reduced from £100 to £50. It was also a constitutional advance for Nigeria as the Central Legislative Council was empowered to legislate for the whole country. The constitution also introduced Regional Councils. While the Regional Council for the North had two chambers (House of Assembly and House of Chiefs), the Western and Eastern had one chamber each. Lastly, the creation of Regional Council brought government closer to the people of Nigeria.

            

The constitution was criticized for a number of reasons. First, the claim that the constitution increased the participations of Nigerians was a false claim as majority of unofficial members were nominated by the Governor and even in reality were traditional chiefs who had problem to communicate in English language. Second, the election principle under the constitution did not extend beyond limited franchise even though income qualification was reduced. Third, the elections of the four unofficial members were limited to Lagos and Calabar. Also, there was no proper consultation of the indigenous people as promised by the previous Governor, Sir Bernard Bourdillon. Perhaps the worst criticism came from the educated nationalists who claimed that they were excluded from the process and that the constitution was an imposition on the country. It should be noted that even though the constitution’s claim of greater participation was not adequate, it nonetheless provided greater opportunity for discussion and debating public opinion. Not only that, the restriction of election to Lagos and Calabar was probably because the level of literacy in other part of country was still rather low. The numbers of the northerners in the parliaments exceeded that of the southerners, this of course became the reference point for establishment northern hegemony or domination of the country. This again may have arisen out of the British coy to extend their stay in the country, and this was testified to by the northerners’ unwillingness to gain independence when they opposed independence movement made by Anthony Enahoro in 1956.

Macpherson Constitution of 1951

By March 1949 a Select Committee of Legislative Council was set up to make recommendations on the proposed new constitution of Nigeria by March 1949. Having examined the problems emanated from Richard constitution, a wide consultation was made even to village level (Olusanya: 1980 p.530). This was followed by an all Nigerian Constitutional conference in January 1950. Among other things, the conference agreed to federal system and transformation of the three regions from administrative to political regions. The new constitution came into effect in 1951.

The constitution introduced a single chamber central Legislative House (known as the House of Representatives) and the executive Council for the entire country. The constitution introduced bi-cameral legislature, the House of Assembly and the House of Chiefs into the Western and the Northern regions but only House of Assembly for the Eastern region. Besides division of the country into three, the constitution also established regional executive council for each region. The composition of the House of Representatives comprised of the President (the Governor), six ex-officio members, One hundred and thirty six elected members and six special members appointed by the Governor to represent interests not adequately represented (Okonkwo: 1962, p.275). Out of one hundred and thirty six elected members, sixty eight were to come from Northern House of Assembly, thirty one from the Western House of Assembly and three by the Western House of Chiefs. The remaining thirty four were members of the Eastern House of Assembly.

One major advantage of Macpherson Constitution was that it increased the level of participation of indigenous people in the government. For the first time, the number of unofficial members in the House of Representatives became overwhelming. It is significant to note that the number of unofficial elected members was far greater than unofficial nominated members. More importantly, the constitution provided much longing opportunity for Nigerian nationalists to learn the art of constitution making.  Lastly, the constitution ushered in the formation of new political parties.  

Littleton Constitution of 1954

At this time it became obvious that the Macpherson constitution could not work any longer. Two major factors were responsible for the failure of the 1951 constitution. First, in 1953, a member of House of Representatives, Chief Anthony Enahoro of Action Group party moved the motion for self-government in 1956.  This generated crisis in the House as Northern delegates opposed the motion on the ground that the North was unprepared for such sudden decision.  The leader of the NPC in the House, Sir Ahmadu Bello proposed that the date 1956 should be substituted with ‘as practicable as possible.’ The crisis was aggravated when the Northern legislators were subjected to ridicule by the Lagos crowd (Olusanya: 1980, p.536).

Secondly, both the North and the West were critical and unsatisfactory of the concentration of power in the Central Government in Lagos. (Okonkwo: 1962, p.294). The consequence of this was the Kano riot of 1953 and the threat of secession by the North. More importantly, the crisis stimulated London Conference where the decision to review Macpherson Constitution was made. After protracted deliberations in London and Lagos between 1953 and 1954, the conference granted self-government to the regions (the west and the east) which desired it. The position of Lagos which had hitherto been controversial was solved. Lagos became Federal Territory with direct representation in the Central Legislature.

A new constitution that recognized the demands of each region was drafted. In addition to the existing three regions the North, the West and the East Southern Cameroon attained a separate region each, with regional Legislative Council and Lagos, the Federal Territory. At the Federal level, the office of the Governor became Governor General while that of Lieutenant-Governor at the regional level was transformed to the Governor. A Federal Supreme Court replaced the West African Court of Appeal, and High Courts were provided for regions, including Southern Cameroon and Lagos. More autonomy was granted the regions. For instance the regional executives were responsible for the formulation and execution of policies for their regions except matter related to the Exclusive List of the Central government.

The constitutional conference conveyed in 1957 ushered in two momentous developments. The formal attainment of self-government by both the Eastern and the Western regions on August 8 was approved. More importantly, there was creation of national government by the Prime Minister, Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa in spite of regionalization of the three major political parties- the AG, the NCNC and the NPC.   

It should be noted that despite the full participation granted Nigerians in the 1957 constitutional deliberation, the Nigerian politicians did not display enough maturity that could guarantee lasting peace and unity. By 1958, three knotty obstacles were observed. These problems reflected in the minority questions, agitation for separate states and the threat to national unity (Coleman: 1986, 384). The growth of ethnic nationalism, and close association and allegiance of political parties to the major ethnic groups no doubt instigated the fear of domination exercised by the minority groups. As Coleman aptly observes, ‘the interlocking leadership of the principal cultural and political association has furthered frustrated the tribalization of political groupsAnother problem emanated from party rivalry between the AG and NCNC. In a bid to gain more vote in the opponent’s region.

The promise of autonomous to the minority groups created agitation for separate states by the Middle Belt movement, Benin-Niger Delta and Calabar-Ogoja-Rivers State Movement. To solve the problem, the Henry Willink Commission was set up to look into the minority problem. On August 18, the commission submitted a detailed report (Olaniyan and Alao: 2003, p.6). Four crucial points could be noted from the Willink Commission report. First, the commission advised that creation of new regions rather than solving the problems would escalate it.

Secondly, the commission recommended that one strong police force that would not be subject to the manipulation of regional politicians be established.

Third, it recommended that areas where problems existed should be declare Special Area and organization of boards that would complement development be established in the areas.  More importantly, the commission advised that fundamental human rights should be incorporated in the Independent Constitution (Olaniyan and Alao, p. 17).

Consequently, the 1960 constitution came into effect. The constitution was modeled on Westminster parliamentary style. But unlike the British constitution which was unwritten, Nigerian constitution was a written one. The constitution provided for Federal parliament made up of Governor General, a Senate and a House of Representative. The former had forty four members while the latter had 312 members. Although the constitution granted the country political independence, not complete sovereignty.

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