EXPLORING THE MEANING AND PLACE OF SELF-DETERMINATION VIS-À-VIS NIGERIAN SOVEREIGNTY UNDER THE CONSTITUTION OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA 1999 (AS AMENDED)

Abstract

The topic of this article is: Exploring the Meaning and Place of Self-Determination vis-à-vis Nigerian Sovereignty under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (As amended). The aim of the research is to review and ascertain the position of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, on the interrelationship between the international law rule of self-determination and the established principle of state sovereignty. In other words, the aim of the research is to ascertain whether or not there is constitutional provision on right to self-determination and if so to what extent that rule can be exercised in the context of the Nigerian sovereignty as provided by the Constitution. The methodology employed in the research is doctrinal using primary and secondary resources. Study found that there is no specific constitutional provision on self-determination except by inference through the statute. Moreover, although the Constitution itself clearly declared that sovereignty belongs to the people from whom the government derives its own, the same Constitution has taken away the power of exercising that popular sovereignty by making the provisions thereof non-justiciable and thereby subjecting that popular sovereignty to state sovereignty. Thus, our recommendation is that the Constitution should be amended to reflect the issue of self-determination as it is central to the survival of any people and to remove the issue of non-justiciability regarding the exercise of the popular sovereignty.