CURRENT Themes in the 1999 Constitution: A tribute to Honourable Justice S.M.A Belgore, GCON, FNIALS

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CURRENT THEMES IN THE 1999 CONSTITUTION.pdf (27.53 MB)
Date
2007
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Lagos: Institute of Advanced Legal Studies
Abstract

Of Matrices and Transformation: The Constitution in an Era of Change; The Philosophy and Structure of Government; Secularism and the Nigerian State: Some Fundamental Questions of Politics and Religion in Nigeria; Religion and the State in Nigeria; The State and Religion in Nigeria; Federalism and the Management of Ethnicity in Nigeria: The 1999 Constitution in Perspective; Contemporary Issues in the Local Government system under the 1999 Constitution; The Political Arms of Government; Forestalling Divided Government: Nigeria as a Case Study; Executive-Legislature Relations; Executive Immunity and Public Accountability: The Nigerian Experience; The Politics of Impeachment: The Nigerian Experience; er Twelve: Fair Hearing and Law Enforce: Some Recent Developments Chapter Thirteen Constitutionality of Legislative Actions: The National Assembly in Perspective Chapter Fourteen: The Contempt Powers of the Legislature Chapter Fifteen: The Right of Recall under the 1999 Constitution

• Part III The Electoral Process Chapter Sixteen: Campaign Finance and Constitutional Democracy in Nigeria Chapter Seventeen: Disqualification of Candidates for Elective Office: Constitutional Imperatives Chapter Eighteen: Constitutional Implications of the Executive Team Ticket

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This book, Current Themes in the 1999 Constitution is the result of painstaking work by a collection of intellectuals who constitute the think tank of academia. The topics discussed have been carefully selected to aggregate views on the Constitution in action. It is not a “what are the provisions” in the Constitution but a “how have the provisions of the Constitution been constructed” in practice. The spate of impeachments and how they have been handled both by the Legislature and the Judiciary is one of the very current issues. Its discussion raised a number of other very pertinent issues like, what is immunity? Why has there been so much emphasis only on executive immunity? What is the realism of the partnership between the top Executives? Is there anything like a “divided” government? Who decides what a divided government is? What strategies can the Constitution provide to forestall a “divided government?” The issue of tenure of government is also a critical one. Why was tenure not a problem until recently? Under this topic, other issues arising include how and when elected officers can be deemed to have assumed or vacated office. These questions which would have been thought to be merely political, theoretical and academic have proven to be latent issues which have required judicial interpretation. So, should there be a Constitutional Court to take constitutional issues out of the main stream of adjudication in our present structure of courts? Has the political undertone too many of these issues brought the Judiciary too much into the political terrain? I have merely touched on a very few issues of interest contained in the Chapters of the book under various headings. The process of producing the book is itself an exercise in intellectualism. Usually, when eminent professors write articles, they do not need to subject them to peer review. But all the Chapters in this book have been subjected to extensive peer review through a process of an “open roundtable” to which other eminent professors and colleagues from disciplines other than law were invited. The book is a must for any library, public or private, of anyone interested in good governance. I congratulate the Director General of the Institute and her team for such an excellent contribution to legal literature.
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https://nigeriareposit.nln.gov.ng/handle/20.500.14186/1692
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Constitutions, Laws and Acts