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Generally speaking, the term constitution also refers to agree rules and principles written or unwritten, which govern any community of persons or an organization. It is the articulate of defined law of the land which the people of a state or an organization have accepted as the basic principles to guild the conduct of their affairs and which both the rules and the ruled are obliged to obey. Thus, it is these defined rules and procedures on the basic of which the people of a state or any other group of people are governed that means by constitution. Constitution can be traditionally classified as follows,written constitution,unwritten constitution,flexible constitution, regid constitution,unitary constitution, federal constitution,monarchical constitution and republican constitution. Written constitution:  a written constitution is one that is written down in a single document, a written constitution is often amended or un amended from time to time. In a whole, no constitution is c...

On January 15th, 1977 the second FESTEC was declared open with a speech entitled “Africa is the origin of man and as such we must strive to lead the world in civilization, art and culture” by Nigeria head of state lt. general o. obasanjo, he stress that Africa should show the concept in action and should not lag behind. The FESTEC continue till the 12th February 1977. Of about 75 countries who were invited to attend the second festal 59 of them attended, some of the participant includes: 1. Ethiopia 2. Guinea 3. Cuba 4. Senegal 5. Nigeria 6. Gambia 7. USA 8. Tanzania 9. Guyana 10. Libya 11. Ghana 12. Australia 13. Morocco 14. Algeria 15. South. Africa 16. Liberia 17. Sierra Leone 18. Togo 19. Trinidad 20. Lesotho 21. ivory coast 22. new guinea 23. Egypt 24. Chad 25. Canada 26. Angola 27. Zambia 28. Gabo...

The lyttleton constitution produced a real marriage between federalism and Unitarianism, and between parliamentary and unelected presidential system of government, based on this constitution, a general election was conducted in 1954, in which the NPC emerged as the dominant and ruling party in the north, while the NCNC was dominant in the east. But because no single party had an absolute majority at the house representatives to form a government at the Centre was a coalition of government between the NCNC and the NPC at the Centre while the action group became the official opposition party there . Though, the lyttleton constitution was a great improvement on previous ones by entrenching federalism and gave powers more to the regionals and created the office of the premier for the first time, it did not make provision for the protection of the minorities within the various regions, it also failed to provide for the office of the prime minister despite its parliamentary nature. The const...

The history and development of constitution in Nigeria Lord lugard who associated with the political history of amalgamation the north and southern protectorates of Nigeria and who became the first governor of the amalgamated territory of what we come to know as Nigeria today ruled the country without any constitution in the real sense of the term. He ruled the large territory by conventions and precedents, and according to directive from the secretary of state for colonies. It was lord lugard’s successor sir Hugh Clifford, who took over as governor in 1920, who introduced what can be called a constitution and thus began the history and development of constitution in Nigeria in 1992: or rather the beginning of a written constitution in the country. The establishment of the Nigerian council marked the first stage of constitutional development in Nigeria. This council was established in 1914 by lord Fredric lugard after the amalgamation of the southern and northern Nigerian; this council...

The second FESTAC has made both temporary and permanently impact on Nigeria, Africa, the black world and the world in general. The impact could be summarized in to social, economic and political. Social and culture impact the second FESTAC constitutes a forum for discussing problems common to blacks and African in particular, black and African artists too found a venue for discussing their problem and achievement on the educational stand point, many saw the second FEATAC as a source of studding history, literature and geography. For example many works and excavation were exhibited, the origin of man was proved to be in black Africa about 14 million years ago, the FESTAC also presented the first church in Africa. The Ethiopian orthodox church which started in 4BC – 59BC. Many literary writings were also presented I the colloquim, these will soon be on sale in markets and bookshops as literature books. Many of the participating countries knew Africa for the first time and Nigeria in part...

The criticisms that surrendered the Clifford constitution of 1922 led to the introduction of the Richards constitution of 1946.The major aims of the constitution were: To promote national unity  To promote diversity within-in order words to cater for the social and political difference within the unity in the country.  To allow for greater participation for Africans in the discussion of their own affairs.  Features of Richards’s constitution of 194  The establishment of legislative council for the whole Nigeria. The south and the north were united under one legislative council like the Clifford constitution. Introduces regionalism and house of assemblies in the north, easthern west in addition, he made provision for a house of chief in the north. The constitution sought for great political socialization and participation by increasing the number of officials and unofficial members. The preservation and incorporation of native administrative (especially in the north...

The nationalist criticize Richard constitution of being imposed on Nigeria and that there was no constitution before imposing the constitution on Nigeria. Base on this, the nationalist of national council for Nigeria and the Cameroun on (NCNC) under Herbert Macaulay and Dr, nnamdi azikiwe worked very hard using the Nigeria people to send a protest letter against the Richard constitution claiming that it lacks constitution and therefore it was imposed on the people Based on this protest and other issue Richard was intended to last for nine (9) years and was replace in 1951 by the Macpherson, however, succeeded sir Arthur Richard as a governor. He was very sensitive to the criticism that the Richard constitution lacked consultation with the Nigeria people. Therefore he took three years 1948-1951 to present his proposed constitution to public opinion. He tok his proposed constitution to the district, provincials and regional level for the people to expresses their views. The variou...

Criticism of Clifford constitution of 1922 Despite the fact that the sir Clifford constitution was the first written constitution Nigeria ever had, and not with standing the fact that it gave a voting right to at least some Nigerian for the first time, some constitutional analysts have criticized the constitution on the following ground. The markets of the constitution were not elected representative of Nigeria people, nor were Nigeriansconsultant during the process of making the constitution. The constitution did not make any provision for the Nigerian nationalists and politicians to contribute to the decision-making and policies of the government, as the executive council reserved for the whites only  The constitution sowed a seed of division in the amalgamated Nigeria because the legislative council was not allow to legislate for the northern part of the country there by planning the force of the north/south dichotomy, which has affected the unity of Nigeria up till date.  ...

CI Many of us have at one time or the other, hear of constitutions. Some of us hear this word nearly every day, the press always write something about one constitution or the other, sometime a country wants to change its constitution. Only recently some people were given the assignment to write a new constitution, perhaps the most popular constitution in the world is the British constitution of which we hear so much, thus the word “constitution” is on everybody lips we know the meaning of constitution but some of us cannot define it. The best thing we must do before defining constitution is first to explain what it is, and after our explanation of its meaning we shall be in a better position to give it a definition. If any group of people gather and they want to do anything in common they must have a rules, they must know how to share the work among themselves so that each person in the gathering knows his on duty among the people, for instance, the student union must select their pres...

Sir John Macpherson arrived in 1948 and expressed the determination to address the political problems created by his predecessor’s constitution. He set out to collect peoples view and opinion by organizing meeting and conferences both at provincial and regional levels. Following this, a constitution drafting committee made up of 3 regional representatives, one representative if the colony conference and one representative of the Lagos conference alongside the chief secretary the attorney-general and the financial secretary was established. This committee studied the view of the various constitution meeting and conferences and prepared a draft constitution which was tabled before the all-Nigeria general conference held at Ibadan on January 9-20-1950, under the chairmanship of general home, the then attorney-general. Among others, the general conference deliberated and made the following recommendations: The adoption of a federal system of government  The establishment of regional as...

Certain political development in early 1950s were responsible for the introduction of lytteton constitution, first, there was the crisis of opinion among the three major political leaders as the question of Nigerians independence in 1956. Secondly, the resignations of certain group from the council of ministers, these crises were compounded by the Kano riot in 1953. The Kano riot leads to north south dichotomy. However, and in order to resolve the political tension, mr. Oliver lytteton proposed the meeting of the three major political parties as represented by the political leaders in London. Unfortunately, rather than lytteton understanding the political crises in term of sharp ethnic rivalry for economic power, he rather saw the problem as providing more regional power to each of them, i.e. to regional autonomy, rather than economic power. By January 1954, the political leaders re-assembled at Lagos conference to effect constitution reform. The reform includes: The establishment of p...

In 1979, a new constitution based on the executive presidential system was promulgated which became effective on 1st October 1979. It is worthy to note here that while the parliamentary system which was abandoned acknowledged the supremacy of the parliament , the 1979 presidential system is based on the supremacy of the constitution and the doctrine of full separation of power between the three arms of government- the executive, legislature and judiciary. The 1979 constitution vested on the president with tremendous amount of power, there was the principle of federal character to eliminate the fears of minorities The features of The 1979 constitution     The 1979 constitution introduced the presidential system of government unlike the 1963 constitution that introduced the parliamentary system of government.   There was the existence of complete separation of power between the executive, the legislature and the judiciary unlike the 1963 republican constitution that i...

Shortly after the arrival of sir Hugh Clifford in Nigeria as a governor in 1920, the national congress of British west Africa (NCBWA) was formed in Ghana and a branch was later established in Nigeria. The congress sent a delegation to London in 1920 with a petition to the secretary of the stat for the colonies presenting certain demands for each Britain colony in west Africa. Some of the demands includes the followings;   Establishment of a legislative council with 50 elected member and 50% nominated others Establishment of a university for west Africa  Abolition of racial discrimination in civil service and social life  Separate of the executive from the judicial branch of government  Establish of an appeal court for west Africa  Appointment and deposition of chiefs to be left, to the people  Though the above demands were rejected by the colonial office and the government of gold cost and Nigerian, yet the demands none-the less in ceased the urgency for a ...

The weakness of the 1960 independence constitution as criticized by Nigerian called for the drafting of the republic constitution of 1963. The 193 republican constitution was a true Nigeria constitution which came into being by law passed by the national assembly of Nigeria. This constitution gave Nigerian a republican status and abolished the monarchical rule of British in Nigeria. Features of Republic constitution of 1963 The British queen ceased to be Nigerian head of state  Privy council was replaced by the supreme court as the highest court of appeal in Nigeria The constitution retained the parliamentary system of government and laid down the procedures for creation of more region or states  The name of the governor general was changed to president  The president was empowered to appoint judges of the supreme court and the high court of Lagos instead of the judicial service commission  The constitution retained the emergency power conferred on the federal govern...

The above components connected with the living together of a man such as the family, the clan, villages, town and countries should be effectively organized. For this to be done, there must be somebody at the head. Father is the head of the home while the headmaster, principal and vice principal and chancellors are the heads of educational institutions An elderly man in a clan is the head In villages a particular family is selected to be the ruling family and from where chiefs are appointed, these chiefs are called various names in different part of Nigeria, oni of ife, alaf in oyo, emir in the north, obi of Onitsha, igwe of owerri, eze of arochukwu, chafia and abiriba, oba of benin, obong of calabar, amanyanabo ofopobo  Local or urban council, the head is a political appointment, local council areas are headed by a divisional officers/chairman while in urban council area a resident is the head, Nigeria is a country of many states, the headship is also a political appointment like a...

Merit of Written constitution it has great precision ,it is very simple ,consistency ,it is always clear and definite as it is planned, deliberated upon and drafted by skillful person who always make efforts to reduce vagueness and ambiguity ,rights of the citizens are more secure when they are embodies in the written constitution and protected by an impartial judiciary ,written constitution are more stable and less subject to parliamentary manipulations Demerit of writing constitution it takes time to draft and expensive ,written constitution creates problems in the progress of the state,,particularly if its procedure of amendment is difficult ,it is not easy and understood by the ordinary man ,it is very rigid and difficult to amend ,it often attracts disputes and litigation, Merit of unwritten constitution much disputes and litigation are not involved ,it is very easy to understand by an ordinary man ,it is very flexible and can easily be amended ,it grows with the need of the pe...

An environment of an area divided into two parts: physical and social, the physical environment of an area is its topography, this includes: Relief which is subdivided into mountains and hills, plateau and plain Drainage made up of rivers and lakes Vegetation --- forests Climate --- a generalization of the weather condition of a place (temperature, wind and rainfall). How man influences his physical environment Man influences his physical environment or makes them better to suit him in different ways, he makes bridges and roads to join places for example he builds bridges across rivers, lakes and forests to join towns, villages, markets, man makes canals ( water-way made by man) to shorten the distance between countries and town e.g. the SUEZ and the panama canals, he builds dams to irrigate his farms, to catch fish and generate hydroelectric power e.g. kanji dam in Nigeria and Aswan dam in Egypt, he farm to raise crop both cash and subsistence crops. Man builds shelter to protect hi...

During the 1957 and 1958 conference held in London and headed by the British secretary of state for the colonies, sir henry willink, Nigerians were asked to choose between having independent and creation of more states. The Nigerian political opted for independence. The federal election to the house representative were conducted and the house called for independence in October 1,1960 on July, 1960 the Nigeria independence act was established which ratified the above commissions that were established. Features of Independent constitution of 1960 The 1960 constitution still remains Nigeria a federation of three regions The queen was still the head of state but she was represented by a governor general -late Dr.nnamdi azikiwe, who was the first black and indigenous governor general of Nigeria.   The constitution provided for too chamber legislature- the house of representative and the house of senate, this was the first time Nigeria practice bi-cameral legislature The 1960 constitutio...

Definition of party: A political party is defined as a group of people who believe in the same principles and wishes to capture political power in other to put in to practice their principles. we must examine this definition in the light of the practice of political parties. The definition presupposes that all political parties have principles (or ideology) this not true. Many political party have no ideology, they just want to capture political power in other that they may control political patronages and employments. a political party is a group, of people who may or may not believe in an ideology but who wish to capture political power. The main thing is that all political parties wish to capture political power. Function of political party The functions of political parties in democratic states are Organization of public opinion on national issues: in every country different people hold different opinion, some opinion are sensible and some are stupid, the parties formulate all thes...

Once again, the world focused attention on Nigeria which hosted a great gathering of blacks- the second world black and African festival of art and culture. The first event of such magnitude held here was the second all Africa games which came off in Lagos in January 1973, throughout the four week duration 15th January to 12 February, 1977. FESTAC was a house hold world throughout the entire black world and beyond. What is this art and culture? Culture is simply define as a fabric of ideals, beliefs, skills, tool, methods of thinking, eating and talking, customs and institutions into which a member of a society is born. It include the way individual live, the music’s he plays, festivals, celebrations, the house he lives and the food he eats. Culture in other way round could simply be defines as a way of life and value of people e.g., dressing, religion, dancing and music. Art on the other hand, is the work of man, not nature which gives pleasure to the mind through the senses. They inc...

What is constitutionalism? Constitutionalism in a narrow sense is the practice of limited government ensured by the existence of a constitution. This exists when government institutions and political process are effectively constrained by constitutional rules; more broadly, constitutionalism is a seer of political values and aspirations that reflect the desire to protect liberty through the establishment of internal and external checks on government power. Definition of constitution: The term constitution may be defined in two different senses, the broad and narrow. In its broad sense, constitution means the guiding principles by which a country is govern. It defined the composition and powers of organs of the state and regulates the relations of various states organs to one another and to the private citizens. In other words, constitution in a broad sense is a fundamental law that establishes the framework of government of a state assigns the powers and duties of government agencies a...