Features of the Clifford Constitution

The Clifford Constitution of 1922, named after Governor Sir Hugh Clifford, replaced the Nigerian Council and the old Lagos Legislative Council. Its main features were:

1. A new Legislative Council of 46 members. It replaced the Lagos Legislative Council and the Nigerian Council, and it made laws for the Colony of Lagos and the Southern Provinces.

2. An official majority. 27 of the 46 members were colonial officials (23 ex officio and 4 nominated), so the British government always controlled the council’s decisions.

3. The elective principle was introduced. For the first time Nigerians elected members to a legislature: three for Lagos and one for Calabar, at the first elections held in September 1923.

4. A limited franchise. Only men aged 21 and above who had lived in Lagos or Calabar for 12 months and earned at least £100 a year could vote.

5. The North was left out of the council’s law-making. The Legislative Council did not legislate for the Northern Provinces, which the Governor continued to govern directly by proclamation.

6. An Executive Council of officials only. The Executive Council was made up of ten official members and headed by the Governor, so no elected Nigerian took part in executive decisions.

The elective principle encouraged the formation of political parties and newspapers. Herbert Macaulay’s Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP) won three of the four elected seats in 1923.

How WAEC asks it: “Describe the composition of the Executive Council of the 1922 Clifford Constitution” and “Identify any five ways in which the Clifford Constitution was significant to Nigeria” (WASSCE May/June 2010, Government Paper 2, Question 7).

Sources: Tekena N. Tamuno, Nigeria and Elective Representation 1923–1947 (Heinemann, 1966); U.S. Library of Congress, Nigeria: A Country Study, “Further Development of Colonial Policy”; WAEC Chief Examiner’s report, Government Paper 2, May/June 2010.