The Nigerian Constitution in 1960 Essay

On September 17, 1787 framers in Philadelphia signed “The Constitution of the United States in which it was approved on June 21, 1788 by the ninth state. Once confirmed, along with the addition to the Bill of Rights it developed a mutual standard by which Americans determined the responsibilities and limits of their government. Looking to the Constitution to decide political discrepancies has helped to substitute and preserve a general agreement among people that are otherwise diverse. The Constitution, although two centuries of complications and trials of the American experiment in self-government, is a testament to the cleverness and anticipation of its framers.

In May 1787, 55 delegates came from the 13 states to discuss the changes to be made to the Articles of Confederation and how to improve it to prevent and end the problems and issues created by it. They, instead, decided to make a new document called the Constitution. The Constitution was a plan of government designed to fix the problems and issues created by the Articles of Confederation. It was formed by much discussion and debate. Many compromises and plans were made. Not only did it plan for a stronger and more stable government, it also prevented the abuse of power in the government.

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.

Constitutions have been around for many years. The first ones on record go back as far as the fifteenth century. There are many uses for them, though often enough are used to outline laws and basic rights of the people under that government. Two very different, yet very alike constitutions are the Iroquois and the United States Constitutions. They have many differences, but just as many similarities.

It was a long road until the constitution was made in 1900. This involved delegates having to travel to London in order to to receive a referendum from the British Parliament.

All this together gives grounds to say that the adoption of the U.S. Constitution was a historic event and played a major role in the development of democracy in the USA, as well as throughout the world. According to one of its founding fathers and the third U.S. President Thomas Jefferson, “The Constitution of the United States is the result of adding the wisdom of our country”.

The original Constitution consisted

When the founding fathers wrote the Constitution and Declaration of Independence, they wrote them with the future in mind. In the newspaper and TV headlines today, many of the topics in the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence are even more relevant and hotly debated today than back then. But they each have a different purpose and handle many topics differently. This essay will compare the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution in three areas: style, structure, and tone, the topic of religion and government, and the issue of African slavery.

In 1787, 55 delegates met in Philadelphia to write the Constitution; this meeting came to be known as the Constitutional Convention. The attendees of the convention had originally believed that the meeting was arranged to revise the Articles of Confederation, but James Madison and the other Federalists had an alternative motive. The purpose of the Constitutional Convention was to eradicate the Articles of Confederation and to construct an entirely new document altogether, this Constitution would form a strong central government and invest the power equally among the states. The colonists were hesitant to the idea because of their past experience with King George the Third, and in turn they presented a question- how could the document guard

Developing a country and its principals comes with many debates, arguments, and many decisions to be made. In the end of the eighteenth century the Founding Fathers of the newly established America dealt with the difficulties of creating a country with strong political, social, and economic power. With the writing of the Articles of Confederation the country had now developed a national government, but was weak and ineffective. The top leaders of the country knew the flaws of the Articles and gathered together to rewrite the draft. When these decisions makers met in Philadelphia for the Convention the Constitution of the United States was written. This Constitution developed the foundation of the American governmental system. Along with

Two documents that were written during the time of the ratification of the Constitution: The Federalist Papers: No 45 , and Farewell Address provide a basis of ideals that the new republic had to face. One provides new advantages that the new Constitution provides, and the other addresses potential threats that may arise in the latter future. These products show the radical ideas adopted from the enlightenment era, being put in place as the experiment of the United States. No other country, at this time has tried to put these in place, or allowed their people to have any liberties such as the Americans had. The documents share the issues that the new government would ensue, and how it

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.

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.

Corruption can be defined as the use of entrusted power to accumulate public wealthy for personal benefit. Corruption is not peculiar to any country, continent or state; it is sure a global issue which is an endemic to all government all over the world. However, corruption is prevalent in the Niger delta region of Nigeria; public officers in this oil producing state of Nigeria are corrupt. Consequently, it has defied the Niger delta from developing politically and economically which has left the states reputation in a mess. Radicalization of youths, abject poverty and -political instability are the three leading effects of corruption in the Niger delta region of Nigeria.