Civic Education - Junior Secondary 3 - 1979 Constitution

Term: 1^st Term

Week: 7

Class: Junior Secondary School 3

Age: 14 years

Duration: 40 minutes of 2 periods each

Date:

Subject:      Civic education

Topic:-       1979 constitution

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES: At the end of the lesson, pupils should be able to

1. State the features, merits and demerits of the 1979 constitution

INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNIQUES: Identification, explanation, questions and answers, demonstration, videos from source

INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS: Videos, loud speaker, textbook, pictures

INSTRUCTIONAL PROCEDURES

PERIOD 1-2

NOTE

CONSTITUTION

THE NIGERIA CONSTITUTION OF 1979

Gen. Muritala Muhammed who took over the control of Govt. on the 29^th of July 1975 inaugurated  a Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) on the 18^th of October 1975 and charged it to produce a new constitution for Nigeria which would as much as possible eliminate the constitutional problems experienced in Nigeria.

The draft of the constitution was studied and reviewed by a Constituent Assembly (CA). The draft constitution was then approved by General O. Obasanjo as the 1979 Nigeria Constitution which took effect from the 1^st of October 1979.

FEATURES OF THE 1979 CONSTITUTION

• It introduced the Presidential System of Government for Nigeria.
• It provided for a bicameral legislation which it called the National Assemble i.e House of Rep. and the Senate at Federal level and a unicameral legislature at the states level i.e House of assembly.
• The constitution was made supreme in Nigeria.
• The post of the Executive Presidency was introduced to replace the hither to Prime Minister
• The principles of separation of powers, checks & balances was introduced & entrenched in the constitution.
• Direct election of the president & state governors by the electorate was introduced & both were made accountable to the electorate & not to the parliament or National assembly.
• It ratified the division of Nigeria into 19 states carved out by Gen. Muritala Muhammed in 1976.
• It provided for the F.H.R in the constitution.
• It provided for a democratically elected L.G councils as 3^rd– tier of Govt. in Nigeria.

MERITS OF 1979 CONSTITUTION

1. There was complete separation of powers between the 3 arms of Govt.
2. The president was made accountable to the electorate who elected him to power instead of the National assembly.
3. It provided for the Fundamental Human Rights (F.H.R)
4. The selection of the federal Ministers was not restricted to the presidents political party but the president has the right to select his ministers from any political groups.
5. Federal appointments were well spread out to cover & allay the fear of the minority groups i.e Federal character was well observed.
6. The constitution also provided the procedures for impeachment of the President & the state Govt. by the legislature.

DEMERITS OF 1979 CONSTITUTION

1. The system is very expensive to run because of the huge financial expenses involved in the payment of the numerous legislator & other political appointed of the Government
2. The use of lobby in the system encourages corruption.
3. The impeachment provision in the constitution made it easy for the legislators to intimidate the executive into complying with their desires.
4. The separation of powers provided for by the constitution led to series of conflicts between the arms of the Government.

EVALUATION:    1. State and explain four features, merits and demerits of the 1979 constitution

CLASSWORK: As in evaluation

CONCLUSION: The teacher commends the students positively