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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