Nigerian Constitution Pdf Free Download

The Constitution of Nigeria is the written supreme law of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.[1][2] Nigeria has had many constitutions. Its current form was enacted on 29 May 1999 and inaugurated the Fourth Nigerian Republic.[3]

Nigeria's structure and composition are a legacy of British colonial rule.[4] It has over 374 multilingual groups with different cultures and traditions.[5] This diversity contributes to Nigeria being "one of the world's most deeply divided countries" with rampant political corruption.[6][7] As a result, Nigeria has undergone many attempts to form an effective constitution. These efforts include civilian and military rule, centrifugal and centralized federalism, presidential and parliamentary systems, and other political institutions.[7]

DOWNLOAD 🔥 https://geags.com/2y3CqQ 🔥

An Order in Council enacted Nigeria's first constitutions during the colonial era when the country was administered as a Crown Colony. These constitutions include the Clifford Constitution of 1922, the Richards Constitution of 1946, the Macpherson Constitution of 1951, and the Lyttleton Constitution of 1954.[8][6][9]

Westminster approved a new constitution for Nigeria in 1946.[10] It was called the Richards Constitution after Governor-General Sir Arthur Richards, who was responsible for its formulation. Although it left effective power in the hands of the Governor-General and his appointed Executive Council, it also established an expanded Legislative Council empowered to deliberate on matters affecting the country. It also created three regional Houses of Assembly to consider local questions and advise the lieutenant governors.

An inter-parliamentary conference at Ibadan in 1950 drafted a new constitution. It was dubbed the Macpherson Constitution after the incumbent Governor-General John Stuart Macpherson. It went into effect the following year, in 1951.[11]

The next revision of the constitution was called the Lyttleton Constitution after Oliver Lyttelton, 1st Viscount Chandos. It was enacted in 1954 and firmly established the federal principle. This paved the way for Nigeria's independence from Great Britain.

A British Order-in-Council enacted Nigeria's first constitution as a sovereign state. It came into force upon the country's independence on 1 October 1960. Under this constitution, Nigeria retained Queen Elizabeth II as titular head of state, Queen of Nigeria. Nnamdi Azikiwe represented the queen as Governor-General.[12]

Independent Nigeria's second constitution abolished the monarchy and established the First Nigerian Republic.[13] It came into force on 1 October 1963, the third anniversary of Nigeria's independence. Nnamdi Azikiwe became the first President of Nigeria. The 1963 constitution was based on the Westminster system. It was used until a military coup in 1966 that overthrew Nigeria's democratic institutions.[14]

The 1979 constitution established the Second Nigerian Republic. It abandoned the Westminster system in favour of a United States-style presidential system with direct elections.[15] To avoid the pitfalls of the First Nigerian Republic, the 1979 constitution mandated political parties which were required to register in at least two-thirds of the states.[14] In addition, it established a Cabinet of Nigeria, with each state having at least one member.[14] This gave a "federal character" to the nation.[14]

The 1993 constitution established the Third Nigerian Republic. This constitution was supposed to return democratic rule to Nigeria but it was never fully implemented. The military controlled the country until 1999.[16][17]

The 1999 constitution identifies the national capital, 36 states and their capitals, and 774 local government areas within Nigeria.[20][21][22][23] It establishes the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government and details their duties and the separation of powers between the branches and federal and state governments.[24][2] Nigeria's legislative powers are vested in a National Assembly with two chambers: a Senate and a House of Representatives.[25] The constitution gives the National Assembly the power to make laws for "peace, order and good government of the Federation".

In addition, the constitution outlines the individual's fundamental rights, including life, liberty, dignity, privacy, freedom of expression, religious freedom, and security from slavery, violence, discrimination, and forced service in the military.[2][26] It also defines a person's right to a timely and fair trial if arrested and the presumption of innocence.[26] Nigerians also have the right to own land, a right of assembly, and freedom of movement.[2]

The constitution also protects four laws: the Land Use Act, the National Securities Agencies Act, the National Youth Service legislation, and the Public Complaints Commission Act.[2] In January 2011, President Goodluck Jonathan signed two amendments to the constitution, the first modifications since it came into use in 1999.[27]

You will need to provide your email address, where you want the constitution to be sent to. A confirmation email will be sent to the email address you provided, to ensure the request is not made in error, or in mischief by a third party.

Due to the high server-load caused by thousands of bots downloading the constitution, we removed the previous front-end direct-download-form, to minimize the server load and also ensure we are sending this to real human beings and not bots. So, please bear with us.

This version of the Nigerian constitution is interactive, meaning, that it is fully a hyperlinked PDF soft-copy, thereby easy to navigate to the various sections of the constitution without time-consuming long scrolling. As a matter of fact, it was the frustration of having to endure long scrolling to the various sections of the constitution that gave birth to this interactive edition of the Nigerian constitution.

As citizens, we have a duty to be aware of the constitutional provisions that govern our political and legal life. It is hoped that this particular edition will encourage citizen-interest in reading the constitution. We are particularly happy to have provided this free service to more than 100,000 Nigerians, as at last count.

This article revisits the legitimacy question as it touches the Nigerian 1999 Constitution, bringing to the discourse a review and application of pertinent theoretical perspectives on constitution making and constitutional legitimacy. This theoretical and pragmatic approach introduces a refreshing angle to the debate, revealing the paucity of any attempt to ascribe any legitimacy claim to a constitution with a doubtful normative claim and fraudulent attribution of its source and legitimacy to the people. The author finds the consent basis of constitutional legitimacy as most attractive to a divided state like Nigeria, and concludes by advocating the adoption of a blend of the principles of the constituent assembly and post sovereign constitution-making models for the production of a new people-driven and inclusive constitution to meet the needs of the Nigerian people.

Nigeria's Senate kills a proposed constitutional amendment that would have allowed the country's president to run for a third term. Critics said the proposal would widen regional, ethnic and religious rifts. They hailed its failure as a victory for democracy.

In this part of the program, we go to Nigeria, where democracy has just gotten a boost, now that Nigeria's senate has refused to change the country's constitution - so that the president could stay in power, rather than step down at the end of his term. The question of extending the president's time in office has caused a bitter divide in Nigeria, which has never had a peaceful transition from one civilian government to the next.

There was jubilation on the floor and in the public gallery, with much back-slapping, dancing, and shouts of delight, after Nigerian senators voted resoundingly to reject the proposed constitutional amendment on a third presidential term.

Mr. FESTUS OQUOYA (Constitutional Lawyer, Nigeria): Well, in practical terms, constitutionally and procedurally, it means that the whole concept of third terms for the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has come to an end because the entire senators, by unanimous voice vote, rejected the (unintelligible). So if the term did not pass through the second reading, it means that the bill is dead and is no longer in existence in the senate.

QUIST-ARCTON: The Obasanjo third-term campaigners argue that allowing the Nigerian leader to run for another four years in office, would give him the opportunity to cement wide-ranging liberal reforms the country needs. They said the defeat of the constitutional amendment bill in the senate, railroaded other fundamental proposals, including a rotating presidency between Nigeria's six regions, and a change in how the country's oil profits were shared out.

In the energy sector, Nigeria continues to suffer the effects of its flawed federalism. Although the constitution allows both the state and the federal governments to legislate on this sector, it restricts states from making laws that clash with federal legislation. The upshot is that the federal government maintains an effective monopoly with regard to the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity, relegating the states to legislate on areas not covered by the national grid. The result is a dependence on an antiquated, expensive central grid system and insufficient electric generation capacity, sapping the economy of much-needed growth.

In 1978, the military regime in control of Nigeria promulgated a new constitution to allow the country to come under democratic governance. The constitution was drafted to confer legitimacy and stability to a federal government that had seen a strong secessionist movement, and a series of coups since independence. Chief of State General Murtala Muhammed (who had led a bloodless coup against another in July 1975) initiated the process in October 1975, shortly after coming to power. The military leadership appointed a constitutional drafting committee of 50 experts (primarily academics and lawyers) to produce initial text for the new constitution. One appointee refused to serve, and the remaining 49-member committee was convened for its first meeting on October 18, 1975. Although the military government provided the committee with some explicit recommendations, the committee pursued an ad hoc, open-ended review of constitutional forms, taking the models of United States, Pakistan, India, and Francophone African states into consideration. Six subcommittees developed recommendations, which were considered and amended by the full committee. The committee invited memoranda from the public and received over 350 (written) responses over a period of 5 and a half months. All but 2 members of the committee supported the resulting draft, which was submitted with a lengthy report to a new chief of state (Muhammed was killed in a failed coup attempt in February) on September 14, 1976. The report was published and was subject to much debate (particularly in universities and the media), over the course of the following year. 2351a5e196