CONSTITUTION OF NIGERIA, 1999 (AMENDMENT/ALTERATION ACTS)

LAWS OF THE FEDERATION OF NIGERIA (ALPHABETICAL LIST)

BY SAM ELEANYA

Fourth Alteration instruments to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria refer to five sets of amendments passed by the National Assembly of Nigeria and signed by the President Muhammadu Buhari led Presidency. 

Specifically, the Fourth Alteration/Amendment Acts refer to a set of Acts of the National Assembly (and affirmed by the constitutionally prescribed majority of State Houses of assembly) which were enacted around the same period in 2018 and referred to, together, as the Fourth Amendment/Alteration Acts to the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria.

They include the following five separate enactments:

Unlike the Fourth Amendment, other prior amendments of the Constitution of Nigeria are designated as singularities and they include:

1. First Alteration Act [to provide for the Financial Independence of the National Assembly and Independent National Electoral Commission.

2. Second Alteration Act (to provide for new timelines for the conduct of national elections, by the Independent National Electoral Commission.)

3. Third Alteration Act (for the establishment of the National Industrial Court under the Constitution)

Together, all the alterations constitute the “Constitution of Nigeria” which upholds the “Laws of the Federation of Nigeria” as well as the laws of the sub-national entities (36 States and the Federal Capital Territory) which together make up the Nigerian legal complex.