The 2014 Jonathan National Conference and Nigeria’s Future

It has been argued that the “continuous search by Nigerians for national integration cannot be fully grasped without a critical review of earlier attempts by both the British colonial administrators and Nigerian nationalists at constitution-making.”1 While early attempts at constitution-making in Nigeria in the dying days of colonial rule through January 15, 1966 (when the Nigerian military intervened in politics)2 have been well-documented,3 what is obvious is that the departing colonial oligarchy erected an “elaborate political and economic infrastructure to facilitate their exploitation of our national resources.”4 Our concern here is to examine attempts by Nigerians at constitution-making since 1975, regarded as an epoch-making year for Nigeria in terms of a decisive effort by the military administration to return Nigeria to civil rule after a failed attempt by the Gowon Administration in October 1974.