In the descending order Hugh Clifford was the first colonial governor of Nigeria and the name of his law is the Clifford Constitution. Check out my last article to view that later. The next colonial governor after him was Arthur Richard but I could not gather enough data on him which I will do later. Lets look at Sir John Macpherson whose constitution name was the Macpherson Constitution. The Ibadan Conference was a conference held to remedy the Nigerian citizens and give them a hand in the administration and affairs of the country. Back then Nigeria citizens had no control of the affairs of the state so different conferences were held in order to resolve some problems happening in the country. Lets look into the topic.
IBADAN CONSTITUTIONAL CONFERENCE (1950)
Sir John Macpherson became colonial Governor of Nigeria in 1948 and initiated moves towards constitutional changes due to the complaints against the Richards constitution. The draft of Macpherson was therefore debated at the village, district, provincial and regional level, then later on at a General conference held in Ibadan in January 1950.
Recommendations of the Conference
The conference recommended the following, that;
1. Lagos should be carved out of western region constituted into a federal territory.
2. There should be equal representation of the north and south in the central legislature.
3. In case of conflict in the concurrent list, that the regional laws should supersede.
4. The center shall have veto power over regional bills.
5. Nigeria be divided into three regions with regional autonomy.
6. The constitution should allow the creation of a larger legislative council with increased legislative powers.
7. Nigerians to be given ministerial appointment to enable them participate in decision making.
8. A central legislature known as House of Representatives and a central Executive called Council of Ministers to be established.
9. A Public Service Commission should be established to take care of recruitment, promotion and disciplining public servants.
10. After the conference, a new constitution came in 1951.
MACPHERSON CONSTITUTION OF 1951
Sir John Macpherson who replaced Arthur Richards took time to seek public opinion before drawing up a new constitution. Thus the constitution was debated at the village, province and regional levels to ensure that the people were carried along.
Major Provisions/Features of the Constitution
The constitution made the following provisions;
1. Central Legislative council: the central legislative council was renamed the House of Representatives, which was composed of the Governor, 6 ex officio members,136 members of the House elected through the Regional Houses and 6 special nominees of the Governor. Among the 136 representative members, the North sent 68 members while the East and West sent 34 each.
2. The Central Executive Council: the council was later known as Council of Ministers. Made up of the Governor who presided over it. 6 ex officio members and 12 ministers with 4 ministers from each of the three regions. The ministers were appointed by the Governor on the recommendation of the regional legislators.
3. Regional Executive Council: The North and West regional legislatures were Bi-Cameral-House of Assembly and House of Chiefs while the Eastern region had a unicameral, the House of Assembly.
4. Public Service Commission- a Public Service Commission was established to take charge of the appointment, discipline, promotion and dismissal of public officers.
5. Powers of Regional Legislature: regional legislature could only legislate on certain prescribed matters such as; agriculture, education, local government, etc.
Merits/Importance of Macpherson Constitution
1. The constitutional proposal was debated at various levels of the Country thereby seeking people`s opinion and that was an improvement over the Richards constitution.
2. It recognized the diversity of the country and improved on regional devolution of powers.
3. The constitution created the office of the Speaker to preside over the legislature.
4. Bi-cameral legislature was extended to the West as it was in the North.
5. It increased the legislative powers of the region and the centre.
6. Nigerians were appointed ministers.
7. It introduced a revenue allocation formula based on the principles of Derivation, Needs and National Interest
Demerits/Weaknesses of Macpherson Constitution
1. Nigerian ministers were made responsible only for one or more matters instead of the whole departments. They had no executive control over their ministries. (This shows lack of confidence in the ability of Nigerian politicians)
2. Election of legislators were through indirect electoral system (Electoral College) which did not allow for truly free and fair elections.
3. The constitution had contradiction in the sense that the North and West had bi-cameral legislature while the center and the East had unicameral.
4. There was no provision for the post of a Prime Minister at the center and regional Premiers.
5. The executive presided over by the governor at the center was powerless and fell short of a cabinet form.
6. The Governor still retained veto power-could select some officials into the legislature.
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Please I want you to understand what I mean by the merits and the demerits of a particular constitutions. Different constitutions have their objectives but when they cannot meet up with those objectives then they have failed it. Those objectives they failed to bring into action are called Demerits or weaknesses. Then does objectives that were achieved are the Merits of that particular constitution.
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