Originated as the Criminal Code Ordinance 1916 promulgated by Lord Lugard's amalgamated administration. Now the principal criminal statute for the Southern States; the Northern States operate under the Penal Code. Capital offences include murder (§319), armed robbery and treason. Re-enacted as Cap. C38 in the Laws of the Federation 2004 consolidation.
Criminal1916Colonial· Cap. C38
Criminal Code Act (Cap. C38, LFN 2004)
The principal criminal statute for Southern Nigeria, codified from the 1916 Criminal Code Ordinance.
Standard citation
Criminal Code Act (Cap. C38, LFN 2004) (Cap. C38), Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The political & economic reality at enactment
The political and economic reality
Nigeria in 1916: who was in charge, the cabinet of the day, the GDP, and the crises that defined the period of this Act's commencement.
British colonial administration
Sir Frederick Lugard → Sir James Robertson
1900–1960
National reality
Amalgamation of the Northern and Southern Protectorates (1914) under indirect rule. Marketing boards extracted cocoa, palm oil and groundnut surpluses; political agitation built through the press and the trade union movement.
Crises of the period
- Aba Women's War (1929)
- Iva Valley shooting of striking miners (1949)
- Kano riots (1953)
GDP (World Bank)
Pre-independence; no national accounts series
Cabinet (selected portfolios)
Full ministerial roster being compiled.
Government administered by Governors-General and Residents. The first indigenous federal ministers were appointed under the 1954 Lyttelton Constitution.
Source · Toyin Falola, A History of Nigeria (CUP, 2008)
Methodology
Tier 1 · primary
Courts. Gazettes. National archives.
Tier 2 · corroborating
OCCRP. HRW. BudgIT. TheCable.
Tier 4 · tertiary, flagged
Wikipedia only where primary is pending. Always labelled.