CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA

Two futures for Africa are possible-one with a democratic and stable Nigeria, and one with a Nigeria stricken by autocratic rule, corruption, and intermittent coups. An entire continent awaits the result of the Nigerian experiment with democracy. Nigeria has the resources and can provide leadership to foster greater regional and international cooperation, leadership that many of Nigeria's neighbors need. A successful Nigerian democracy would provide hope for many of Africa's other burgeoning democracies.

In this world there are many different constitutions. While many of them are long, they can be short. Many constitutions were written a long time ago, while some were just written recently or just a few years ago. The ones that were made a long time ago have even been passed down and changed for people to understand now. Even though all constitution have similarities, they all have differences between each other as well.

In 1897-1898 the colonies debated paragraphs of the Constitution (changes were made) it was drafted by: Edmund Barton, John Downer and Richard O’Connor.

The next section of the Constitution deals with the first three articles. 'The first article talks

A constitution is a set of rules that defines the manner a country is run. The British constitution is said to be an unwritten constitution, more accurately it is uncodified as much more of the British constitution is written down, however, they are not all written down in a single document like a codified constitution would require as how the US is, however draws from several different sources such as; statutes laws, common law, conventions, EU laws, authoritative documents etc. Statute law, is a written law passed down by parliament for example the human rights act of 1998 which brought the European convention on human rights into British law, conventions is another

A constitution can be defined as ‘A set of rules that seek to establish the duties, powers and functions of the various institutions of government; regulate the relationship between and among the institutions; and define the relationship between the state and the individual,’ (Winrow, n.d.) Marking the approaching 800th anniversary of Britain’s famous Magna Carta, Graham Allen MP has put forward a proposition about how Britain should reconsider its un-codified constitution. He states: ‘At the beginning of the 2010 Parliament, we felt that the time was right to engage the public in a comprehensive evaluation of the United Kingdom’s democratic arrangements, culminating in this consultation which runs into the year that we will celebrate 800

The focus of the paper is to learn what led to the formation of the U.S. Constitution. First, it’s

drafted by the Constituent National Assembly in return for keeping at least his symbolic power

Perhaps if a written constitution was created there would be too much difficulty in reading the text and trying to discover the literal meaning of each part. Problems with drafting and deciding on the content of the constitution may arise. It is also argued that there is no need to draft a constitution when the “UK’s constitutional arrangement has served it well for several hundred years.” Professor Barber recently stated “it is hard to see what we will gain by undertaking the exercise.” It may turn out that a written constitution is harder to change than an uncodified one and this would create huge obstacles for the UK government as the constitution must evolve and progress with the times.

By 1906 British controlled Nigeria. Britain ruled through existing political institutions rather than establishing a whole new administrative network. African officials were set up, and in most cases not accepted by the mass of the people but were able to rule only because of the British power that stood behind them. The important decisions were made by the British Governor, and the African rulers soon lost all of their authority. Under the British, railroads and roads were built and the productions of cash crops were encouraged. The country became more urbanized as cities grew in size and importance. Africa continued to have no role in higher level government issues. In 1947, Great Britain declared a constitution that gave the African authorities a greater voice in national affairs. Three major political parties developed: The National council of Nigeria, the NCNC (National Convention of Nigerian Citizens) and the NPC (Northern People’s Congress). The constitution failed by 1952 and a new one, solidifying the division of Nigeria into three regions replaced it in 1954. In 1954 the Eastern and Western regions became internally self-governing, and the Northern region as well in

The Republic of Niger, a poor, landlocked country, located in the heart of Sub-Saharan West Africa. Niger has seen its fair share of change throughout the decades; moving away from the control of the French Parliament in 1960, Niger formally declared its independence. Despite this bold act of independence, Niger would not see its first steps towards democracy until the early 1990’s, when they held their first open election as a free state. However, even with the empowerment of the people in a democratic government, Niger has seen itself nearly torn apart as a result constant coups, that have occurred as recently as 2010. Such instability has led to incredulous amounts of corruption and poverty, within the Niger government. This lack of stability and constant turnover in government, has been a driving factor behind the lack of resources available for education in Niger.

This new constitution needs to be published and established so we can form an efficient and protecting new federal government. The constitution needs to be ratified because out the Connecticut plan, having a very strong central government, and to create a representative democracy.

The first was the weak sense of nationalism caused by all the ethnic groups where religion played a major part of the division. The main three ethnicities in Nigeria are Hausa-Fulani, Yoruba, and Igbo; the former is Muslim while the two latter are Christians. The second cause mentioned was the “divide and rule” which was a British tactic to employ ethnic groups against one another, and thus “helped ensure that ethnicity would be the main line of political cleavage after Nigeria became an independent country.” The third cause is the personal rule system based on “big men” and what this means is that Nigerian’s who worked for the British used their personal relationships to gain power and wealth, and in a certain way it is still used today in the Nigerian government. The fourth devastating cause was the “creation of an increasingly active and interventionist state during WWII and after until its independence in 1960, but that opened the doors to patronage, which would be used to gain political power and wealth. The past reveals the problems Nigeria has had for several decades, some of which have not disappeared but seem to get progressively worse. (CITATION)

Before we begin, let’s take a look at the country and its environs. Nigeria a former British Colony, located in the western part of Africa, it shares borders with Benin, Cameroun, and Niger. A growing population of 150million, labour force of 51million (70% Agriculture, 10% industry and 20% service), urbanisation is less than 40%, GDP is over $300billion, Per capita income is $2300. Nigeria is blessed with different cultures, languages and ethnic groups (252 in total); this was due to the colonization of the British in the early 19th century (Columbia Encyclopaedia). The British amalgamated its protectorates in 1914 to enable stable control and governance which made them create one Nation of Nigeria formed from all the groups, community and empires around the Niger area under their control. Nigeria had her independence on the 1st of October 1960 and since then various civil wars, political and religious unrest in the country to share power and resources amicably.

     Nigeria has been a country in political turmoil for a long time. The country was created in 1914 under British colonial rule and at that time it was considered a protectorate. It was not until 1960 that Nigeria received independence from the United Kingdom. One of Nigeria's problems politically is that it has over three hundred different ethnic groups. The three largest of these are the Hausa-Fulani, Igbo, and Yoruba. At the time of the independence of Nigeria it was split up into three states with each state being under the control of one of the major ethnic groups. The natural resources of the other 297 ethnic groups were exploited for the major three groups,