ABSTRACT
This chapter starts with an analysis of Nigeria’s court system and judicial appointment procedures to then examine the impact of constitutional jurisprudence on Nigerian federalism. Overall, the Supreme Court of Nigeria has played a significant, though sometimes conflicted and convoluted, arbitrative and judicial review role. On one hand, the Court’s jurisprudential approach has been to view itself and to act as a mediator or neutral umpire at the center of some of the most contentious distributive conflicts, which have pitted the federal government against state governments. The Court has also, on balance, affirmed the constitutional rights of states over local governments while at the same time upholding the constitutional framework that recognizes local government as a distinct level of the federal arrangement. Given this broad record of achievements, the expectation is that the Supreme Court will continue to assert itself even more forcefully in the discharge of its constitutionally assigned responsibilities as Nigeria’s Fourth Republic continues to evolve.
