The Arthur Richards Constitution was designed to last for nine years.
Richard constitution of 1946 replaced the Clifford constitution of 1922. it was due to the weakness of Clifford constitution that made the Nigerian nationalists to bring pressure on Sir Bernard Boudillon, the then governor of Nigeria (1935-1943) to give them a new constitution.
It was then Sir Bernard Boudillon who split Nigeria into northern, eastern and western regions in 1939. He also made other proposals which seemed to be very useful. But Boudillon's constitution never saw the light of the day due to outbreak of the second world war. It was the proposals of Bernard Boudillon that formed the basis of Sir Arthur Richard's constitution of 1946 which came into force on January 1st 1947.