BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO MACPHERSON 1951 AND ITS BASIC FEATURES


With the end of the second world war in 1945,  there  was a wind of change which  blow  cross  the world, which led to various changes and transformations of several countries, colonies, protectorates and the indeed   the world policy. This change as well affected the then colony and protectorate of Nigeria.  This   no doubt   brought about the change of the 1946 Richards constitution which was originally meant to last for 9  years i.e from 1964-1955

This supposedly or impliedly, came as a result of the activities  of  the educated  elites  and  ex-service men,  who had  seen  that the colonial masters were not the ‘gods’  they thought
  them to  be, as they took part actively in the war and witnessed how some  of these ‘gods’ (white men)  died in this own hands. The Lagos press under the eminent leadership of Dr.  Nnamdi Azikiwe  played a very vital role. The criticism against the 1946 constitution was so much so that  played a very vital role. The criticism against the  1946   constitution was so much so that Igwenyi (2004)  noted that governor general Sir John Macpherson had  to start planning as early as 1948 on how to satisfy the yearnings of the Nigerian elicits.

The Arthur Richards constitution was severely criticized   by the Nationalist because it was imposed on Nigeria without any prior consultation. This  made nationalists’ of the National  Council for Nigeria and  the Cameroons (NCNC)  under Herbert Macaulay and Dr Nnamdi  Azikiwe tour important towns,  educating the people  on the political issues  at hand and collecting  donations to send  a protect delegation to London. This  Nwankwo  (1990)  gave  as partly the  reason  for the short lived nature of the Richard constitution and  equally  made Macpherson to  allow  three years from 1984 to  1951  fro public  opinions and consultations.

Interestingly, consultations were made at the level of towns,  native authorities, divisions provinces and regions. A draft committee was constituted to harmonize the view of the people and this report was laid before the Ibadan general conference of 1950 . The final report of this conference was forwarded to the governor and secretary of state for colonies

The approval made by the duo became the Sir, John Macpherson’s constitution in 1951 thus, Nigerian were given opportunity to fashion a constitution and the provisions were evident of this expression of self –determination to  a  reasonable degree
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