International Journal of Law

Authors
Imuetinyan Ugiagbe

Abstract
There are two sections that cover the period of constitutional development in Nigeria by the British imperial administrators and within the section two periods are identified. The first phase is marred by the time in which the indigenes (Nigerians) had no say in the making of the constitutions and therefore constitution making at that time was the prerogative of the colonialists. The second phase of the colonial administration was the time when Nigerian was given some say, in the making of their constitution because the political wind at that time in the country was changing due to nationalists’ movement and growth of political parties that were asserting political pressure for a new political direction on the imperial colonialists. However, only the first phase will be covered in this article. As the Nigeria’s Edolite adage rightly says; “Any right minded person who wishes to understand the present must know something of the past.” Therefore I will countenance the venture of Nigerian Constitutional development by looking at how Nigeria came under the control of the imperialist and consequently how the Nigeria’s Constitution came about.