A Symbiosis of Constitutional Development and the Federal Imperative in Nigeria

Abstract

The main thrust of Nigeria's constitutional development history has been geared towards promoting a viable federal system of government for the country. Indeed, except for the Hugh Clifford's constitution of 1922, all other constitutions operated in Nigeria in one way or the other; cither proposed; or promoted a federal system of government for the country. Ironically, the federal system engendered by successive Nigerian constitutions unwittingly complicates the institutionalization of a viable constitutional framework for the country; this is evidenced in the agitations for resource control and the so called return to "true federalism ", the attempt to impose religious laws in some northern states of the country, agitations for rotational presidency (zoning) and other centrifugal tendencies; which challenged the constitutional framework of the country. This paper argues that a somewhat symbiotic relationship has over the years evolved between Nigeria's constitutional development history and the federal imperative in the country. Furthermore, controversies' resulting from the symbiosis of constitutional development and federalism in Nigeria is jettisoned by the establishment of appropriate conceptual frameworks of the concepts of constitutions and federalism.