Nigeria 🇳🇬 Nigeria 🇳🇬 🇳🇬  constitution of 1989 is right now

<h2>Independence Constitution (1960)</h2>
<p>The 1960 Independence Constitution of Nigeria could be attributed to the Lyttleton Constitution of 1954 and the 1957/58 constitutional conferences held in London and Lagos respectively. Nigeria gained her independence on the 1 st of October, 1960.</p>
<h3>FEATURES OF THE INDEPENDENCE CONSTITUTION</h3>
<ol>
<li>The Queen of England as the Head of State was represented by the Governor General.</li>
<li>Division of power between federal and regional governments.</li>
<li>Procedure for amendment of the constitution was entrenched in the constitution.</li>
<li>Fundamental human rights were also entrenched in the constitution.</li>
<li>Supreme Court Judge was appointed on the advice of Judicial Service Commission.</li>
</ol>
<h3>MERITS OF THE INDEPENDENCE CONSTITUTION</h3>
<ol>
<li>The Independence Constitution established a bi-cameral federal legislature consisting of the Senate and House of Representatives and regional legislature consisting of the House of Chiefs and House of Assembly.</li>
<li>The constitution entrenched accountability as it required the Federal Minister of Finance to submit the reports of the Director of Audit before parliament.</li>
<li>The attainment of independence created a lot of employment opportunities for Nigerians in the Civil Service; the posts that were hitherto held by British nationals.</li>
<li>With the freedom to negotiate her own foreign affairs, Nigeria established trade relations with other nations which contributed in expanding Nigerian foreign trade.</li>
</ol>
<h3>DISADVANTAGES OF THE INDEPENDENCE CONSTITUTION</h3>
<ol>
<li>One of the disadvantages of the independence constitution was that it retained the British Queen as the constitutional ceremonial Head of the State.</li>
<li>The Supreme Court was not the court of last resort; the judicial committee of the Privy Council in Britain continued to act as the highest court of appeal for Nigeria.</li>
<li>The constitution was weak because members of the House of Senate were appointed by the regional government not elected. They therefore became stooges and surrogates of the regional government.</li>
<li>Also, the constitution did not give adequate treatment and definition of the issue of creation of more regions in Nigeria. This over-sight created problems when an attempt was made to create a mid-Western region out of the Western region.</li>
</ol>

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Independence Constitution

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Discover the historical development and evolution of West-African constitutional structures, including Nigeria and Gambia, from the colonial period to modern times, including military rule and coups.


Independence Constitution

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