An Original Theoretical Framework for Constitutional Interpretation in Nigeria: Text, History, Purpose, and the African Context

Constitutional interpretation methodology in Nigeria has evolved through judicial practice without a developed systematic theory of how the Constitution should be interpreted, leaving courts to oscillate between textual literalism, historical original intent, and purposive approaches without a coherent theoretical account of which methodology is most appropriate for Nigeria's constitutional context and democratic purposes. The absence of a developed theory of constitutional interpretation specifically designed for African post-colonial constitutional texts distinguishes the Nigerian literature from comparable debates in South Africa, Kenya, and the United States. This study develops an original theory of constitutional interpretation for Nigeria, integrating textual, historical, purposive, and African contextual dimensions into a coherent Contextualised African Constitutional Interpretation Framework. The methodology combines a systematic analysis of Supreme Court constitutional interpretation methodology in 150 constitutional decisions from 1980 to 2023 (coded by interpretive method, decision outcome, and constitutional provision), with qualitative analysis of the travaux preparatoires of the 1999 Constitution, and comparative theoretical analysis from South Africa's transformative constitutionalism and the United States' Constitutional Interpretation debates. The African Transformative Constitutionalism Theory, Original Intent Originalism, and Living Constitutionalism provide the theoretical counterpoints from which the original framework is derived. Findings provide a theoretically grounded Interpretive Doctrine suitable for adoption by the Supreme Court as a principled constitutional adjudication methodology. Keywords: constitutional interpretation, African constitutionalism, Supreme Court, interpretive theory, Nigeria.