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Fundamental Obligations of Government: Both the Constitution (1979 and 1999) provide as follows: Section 13: Fundamental obligation of Government: It shall be the  duty and responsibility of all organs of government, and  of all authorities and persons, exercising legislative,  executive or judicial powers to conform to, observe and  apply the provisions of this Chapter of this Constitution. Section 14: The Government and the people:  The Federal Republic of Nigeria shall be a State based on the  principles of democracy and social justice.  It is hereby, accordingly declared that :(a) sovereignty belongs to the people of Nigeria from whom  government through this Constitution derives all its powers and  authority;(b) the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary  purpose of government;(c) the participation by the people in their government shall be ensured in accordance with the provisions of ...

Provisions akin to chapter II of the 1979 – 99 Constitutions are contained in the Indian Constitution. In State of Madras v. Champakam Dorairajin, the court stated as follows: of the State Policy which by  Article 37 are expressly made unenforceable by a  court cannot override the provisions found in part III which notwithstanding other provisions, are  expressly made enforceable by appropriate writs,  orders or directions under Article 32. The chapter on Fundamental Rights is sacrosanct and cannot be  abridged by any legislative or executive Act or order,  except the extent provided in the appropriate Articles  in Part III. The Directive Principles……have to  conform to and run as subsidiary to the chapter on  Fundamental Rights.” The above could be said to be the purpose of the decision of the court in Archbishop Olubunmi Okogie V. Attorney-General of Lagos State.  The fact that section 6(6) (c) take...

Section 17(1) of the 1979 and 1999 Constitution state that the state social order is founded on ideals of Freedom, Equality and Justice. The key words here are Freedom, Equality and Justice. Freedom is a constitutional right contained in chapter IV of the constitution. The provision in this chapter re-emphasises it. The idea of equality is of great constitutional importance. It is the bedrock of the rule of law. Justice is an expression that is contained in many sections of the constitution. Section 6 of the constitution deals with it. The idea of justice is also contained in section 33 which deals with fair hearing and chapter VII of the Constitution which deals with the Judicature. Section 17(2) (a) – (d) has provisions relating to equality of rights, obligations and opportunities before the law, respect for the human person and dignity, exploitation of human resources for the good of the community, independence of the judiciary and fair hearing. These provisions are als...

Section 15 of the Constitution (1979 and 1999) state that the motto of the Federal Republic of Nigeria shall be Unity and Faith, Peace and Progress. A motto according to the New Lexicon Webster’s Dictionary of the English Language, is a short, pithy sentence or phrase inscribed on a coat of arms, a sentence or phrase used as a watchword, maxim or guiding principle. It reflects what the nation stands for or desires to achieve. Thus, for the purpose of achieving the above, subsection 2 states that national integration shall be actively encouraged, whilst discrimination on the grounds of place of origin, sex, religion, status, ethnic or linguistic association or ties shall be prohibited. National integration is of vital importance and its encouragement cannot be overemphasised. Except this is actively pursued, the nation cannot stand. The policy of the government should therefore be geared towards the attainment of this objective. The Constitution makes the above litigable when ...

No alterations or amendment of the provision of the constitution can be made, unless the procedure provided for in the constitution itself for such an alteration is complied with. It must be noted that such provisions are indeed cumbersome, very hard to overcome, special, and or they appear to be a syciphean task to overcome.  For instance, to amend the Switzerland Constitution, a referendum of the electorate has to be done, while in Belgium a prescriptive quorum has to be made. In America, an initiation to amend or alter any part of the constitution must be done by two-thirds of both Houses of Congress and ratified by the Legislature of three-fourths of the states. In the  alternative, an initiation by two thirds of the states has to be done first which has to be ratified by the conventions in three-fourths of the states. Professor DE Smith in his book titled the New Commonwealth and its Constitutions published by Stevens & Sons London had this to say on Jamaica, Malaysia...

The executive powers of the Federation is vested on the President of Nigeria, and he is at liberty subject to the provisions of any law made by the National Assembly to delegate such functions to the Vice-President and Ministers of the Government of the Federation or Officers in the Public Service of the Federation. Also the executive powers of a State is vested in the Governor of that State and he may, subject to the provisions of any law made by a House of Assembly delegate such powers to his Deputy Governor and Commissioners of the Government of that State, or officers in the Public Service of the State. But note that the executive powers shall be so exercised as not to impede or prejudice the exercise of the executive powers of the Federation or to endanger the continuance of the Federal Government of Nigeria. It should also be noted that the President shall not declare a state of war between the Federation and another country except with the sanction of a resolution of both Houses...

The courts have also power to declare an edict invalid on the grounds of its inconsistency with a Decree. See Onyuike V. Eastern States interim assets and liabilities agency, Bronik Motors Ltd. and another Vs. WEMA Bank. However in the case of Military Governor of Ondo State V. Adewumi the Supreme court gave scintillating accounts of the powers of the court over such Edicts and many more as follows:-  Where the Federal Government has validly legislated on a  matter, any state legislation on the same matter which is  inconsistent with the Federal legislation will be void to the extent  of the inconsistency.  A Military Governor has no power to make any law which is inconsistent with any law made by the Federal Military  Government before or after December, 31st 1983 when the then  Federal Government came into power.  By the provisions of section 1 subsections 1 and 2 of Decree No.  1 of 1984 which preserved sections 6...

Retrospective legislation are offensive to the principles of social justice. They are inimical to progress and unwarranted in any progressive country. They should be discouraged and disallowed at all times. They look like a victimising trap to catch some political opponents and they are indeed unsuitable to any country that recognises the rule of law. That is why Section 4(9) of the 1979 Nigerian constitution prohibits the making of them in relation to any criminal offence whatsoever. But what we have in a military regime is that a law may be made to start operating from the past which is outside the period of its birth/statutory origin. See Decree No. 45 of 1968 which validated all actions done under Edict No. 5 of 1967 retrospectively (when edict No. 5 of 1967 (Western State) was successfully challenged as a legislative judgement in Lakanmi V. A.G. Western State of Nigeria. Please note that although both edict No. 5 of 1967 and Decree No. 45 of 1968 were declared ultra vires, null a...

Ministerial responsibility means that all the ministers are collectively responsible to the elected parliament for the general policy of the administration. This responsibility is centred around the principle of accountability. Aihe and Oluyede quoted Chamberlain as describing collective  responsibility as:  absolute frankness in our private relations and full  discussions of all matters of common interest …..the  decision freely arrived at should be loyally supported  and considered as the decisions of the whole  government. Of course there may be occasions in  which the difference is of so vital a character that it is  impossible for the minority …..to continue their  support and in this case the ministry breaks up  orminority number or numbers resign. In another sense, ministerial responsibility means the personal responsibility or liability of a particular minister for all the consequences of his ministry’s actions. A...

INTRODUCTION Unlike the old Ironsi and Gowon regimes, the new decrees, specifically and clearly, state the various functions of the different arms of government. This is in very marked contrast to the rather aphoristic provisions of Decree No. 1 of 1966. While Decree No. 1 of 1966 virtually glorified the office of the head of state and that of a military governor, almost without restraints, the new decrees hedged these offices and the exercise of their powers around with checks and balances. There are significant differences between the new decree and those it replaces. The decree specifies that the executive authority of the federation, which is vested in the head of the federal military government, ‘should be exercised by him in consultation with the supreme military council. This is quite unlike what happened under Gowon. The general exercised executive authority and consulted or informed the supreme military council only when it pleased him to do so. Apparently, t...

MAIN CONTENT The immediate problem that arises is to identify the body or institutions responsible for making laws (legislation) under the new Decree. On state level the decree appears specific as to the body responsible. The new decrees provide that the power of the military governor of a state to make laws shall be exercise by means of edicts signed by him. it can be concluded that a military governor not only determine what law he wants to make but also makes it by merely signing it. This is further supported by the provision that an edict is made when it is signed by the military governor of the state to which it applies, whether or not the edict then comes into force. There is no indication in the decrees obliging the military governor to discuss legislative proposals with the executive council although it is understood that this is invariably done. On the other hand at the federal level the situation is not really clear as to who determines what legislation is t...

By section 30 of the 1979 like section 33 of the 1999 constitution, every person has a right to life, and no one shall be deprived intentionally of his life save in execution of the sentence of a court in respect of a criminal offence of which he has been found guilty in Nigeria. Subsection (2) then goes on to state that a person shall not be regarded as having been deprived of his life in contravention of this section, if he dies as a result of the use, to such extent and in such circumstances as are permitted by law, of such force as is reasonably necessary:   for the defence of any person from unlawful violence or for the defence of property;   in order to effect a lawful arrest or to prevent the escape of a person lawfully detained; or   for the purpose of suppressing a riot, insurrection or mutiny. Right to Dignity of Human Person The constitution states as follows:  Every individual is entitled to respect for the dignity of his person, and a...