316. (1) Any office, court of law or authority which immediately before the date when this section comes into
force was established and charged with any function by virtue of any other Constitution or law shall be deemed
to have been duly established and shall continue to be charged with such function until other provisions are
made, as if the office, court of law or authority was established and charged with the function by virtue of this
Constitution or in accordance with the provisions of a law made thereunder.
(2) Any person who immediately before the date when this section comes into force holds office by virtue of any
other Constitution or law in force immediately before the date when this section comes into force shall be
deemed to be duly appointed to that office by virtue of this Constitution or by any authority by whom
appointments to that office fall to be made in pursuance of this Constitution.
(3) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (2) of this section, any person holding such office, a member of
a court of law or authority, who would have been required to vacate such office, or where his membership of
such court of law or authority would have ceased but for the provisions of the said subsection (2) of this section,
shall at the expiration of the period prescribed therefor after the date when this section comes into force vacate
such office or, as the case may be, his membership of such court of law or authority shall cease, accordingly.
(4) The foregoing provisions of this section are without prejudice to the exercise of such powers as may be
conferred by virtue of this Constitution or a law upon any authority or person to make provisions with respect to
such matters as may be prescribed or authorised by this Constitution or such law, including the establishment
and abolition of offices, courts of law or authorities, and with respect to the appointment of persons to hold
offices or to be members of courts of law or authorities and their removal from such offices, courts of law or
authorities.
317. (1) Without prejudice to the generality of section 315 of this constitution, any property, right, privilege,
liability or obligation which immediately before the date when this section comes into force was vested in,
exercisable or enforceable by or against(a) the former authority of the Federation as representative or trustee for the benefit of the Federation;
(b) any former authority of a state as representative or trustee for the benefit of the state, shall on the date when
this section comes into force and without further assurance than the provisions thereof vest in, or become
exercisable of enforceable by or against the President and Government of the Federation, and the Governor and
Government of the state, as the case may be
(2) For the purposes of this section (a) the President and Government of the Federation, and the Governor and Government of a state, shall be
deemed, respectively, to be successors to the said former authority of the Federation and former authority of the
state in question; and
(b) references in this section to "former authority of the Federation" and "former authority of a state" include
references to the former Government of the Federation and the former government of a state, a local government
authority or any person who exercised any authority on its behalf.
Part IV
Interpretation, Citation and commencement
318. (1) In this constitution, unless it is otherwise expressly provided or the context otherwise requires"Act" or "Act of the National Assembly" means any law made by the National Assembly and includes any law
which takes effect under the provisions of this constitution as an Act of the National Assembly;
"appointment" or its cognate expression includes appointment on promotion and transfer or confirmation of
appointment;
"area council" means each of the administrative areas within the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja;
"authority" includes government;
"belong to" or its grammatical expression when used with reference to a person in a state refers to a person either
or whose parents or any of whose grand parents was a member of a community indigenous to that state;