The National Assembly may, by law – (a) provide guidelines and rules to ensure internal democracy within political parties, including the adoption of laws for the conduct of party primaries, party congresses and party congresses; and (b) The delegation to the Independent National Electoral Commission of such powers as the National Assembly may deem necessary or desirable in order to enable the Commission to ensure more effectively that political parties comply with the practices of internal democracy, including the fair and transparent conduct of party primaries, party congresses and party congresses; (c) an annual subsidy to the Independent National Electoral Commission for payment to political parties on a fair and equitable basis in order to assist them in the performance of their duties; . (§ 228) Nigeria`s first constitutions were issued during the colonial period by an order of the council, when the country was administered as a crown colony. The constitutions promulgated during this period were the Clifford Constitution of 1922,[8] the Richards Constitution of 1946, the Macpherson Constitution of 1951, and the Lytpleton Constitution of 1954. [9] [7] The preamble presents and explains the purpose of the Constitution. President of the life of the people so that the people create a bewitching madness. This is the most important law in the country, it is the law from which all other laws in Nigeria derive their validity. Therefore, this is one of the laws that you must observe. The meaning of this law is probably why you hear people use the phrase “it`s unconstitutional” so often, because if something is unconstitutional, it cannot exist. The Constitution also contains all the basic human rights of Nigerian citizens. If you want to know more about the Constitution, you can read our article here – 14 things you should know about the Nigerian Constitution. Nigeria`s first constitution as a sovereign state was issued by a British decree to come into force immediately after independence, on 1 October 1960. Under this constitution, Nigeria retained Queen Elizabeth II as titular head of state as Queen of Nigeria. She was represented by Nnamdi Azikiwe as Governor-General.
[11] Nigeria`s legislative power belongs to a National Assembly. [25] The National Assembly has two chambers: a Senate and a House of Representatives. [25] Together, the National Assembly has the power to legislate on “peace, order and good governance of the Federation” and has the power to legislate on the subjects contained in the “Exclusive Legislative List” in Part I of the Second Schedule. In each of the three regions, separate legislative bodies, the Houses of Assembly, have been established to examine local matters and advise lieutenant governors. The introduction of the federal principle with consultative authority, which was transferred to the regions, marked the recognition of the country`s diversity. Although the Richards Constitution realistically assessed the situation in Nigeria, it undoubtedly intensified regionalism as an alternative to political unification. The most important innovations of the new Charter have strengthened the dual course of constitutional development and allowed for both regional autonomy and federal union. By extending the electoral principle and creating a central government with a Council of Ministers, Macpherson`s constitution gave new impetus to party activity and political participation at the national level. But by giving comparable regional governments extensive legislative powers that could not be overridden by the newly created 185-seat Federal House of Representatives, Macpherson`s constitution also gave a significant boost to regionalism.
Subsequent revisions to the Lyttleton Constitution, named after Oliver Lyttelton, 1st Viscount Chandos and enacted in 1954, firmly established the federal principle and paved the way for independence. Nigeria is an extremely diverse country. “There are more than 374 multilingual groups, each with its own distinctive culture and tradition.” [4] Nigeria`s current diverse composition is one of the legacies of British colonial rule. [5] In fact, “the country as it is known today had not existed before, instead there were a number of states and kingdoms, so before 1914 it was not a single political entity.” [6] This diversity has also helped make Nigeria “one of the most deeply divided countries in the world.” [7] In order to “contain the conflict between the groups”[7], Nigeria made numerous constitutional attempts before and after independence.