Constitutional Guarantee of Property Rights in Nigeria

Abstract

Since 19592 a bill of rights has always been written into successive Nigerian Constitutions. When the Military took over the government of the country in 1966, it suspended3 or amended a number of the provisions of the governing 1963 Constitution. Quite remarkably Chapter 3 of that Constitution embodying the bill of rights is among the portions that have not been altered or suspended. It is therefore significant that even under the military regime the fundamental rights of the individual are protected by the Constitution. It must however be observed that, before the military intervention, the bill of rights was entrenched in the Constitution since the rights and the procedure for their enforcement could only be altered through a rather complicated process in which both the central and regional legislatures had to participate.4 Since the army take-over no part of the Constitution is entrenched. This is because section 4 of the 1963 Constitution providing for a stiff and complicated amending procedure of some of its provisions has been suspended5 and the Supreme Military Council is now competent to enact any laws on any topic by decree6 and no decree is required to be promulgated in any special form or through any special procedure. A decree is valid once it is signed by the Head of the Federal Military Government.7