This paper grapples with the question of Nigeria’s federal practice. It argues that there is a need to re-examine federalism in the country with a view to restructuring the system so that it reflects the ethnological and political realities on the ground. It proposes the de-concentration or decentralisation of the powers of the central government, which increased astronomically during military rule to the disadvantage of the component units—the states. In addressing this subject matter, the paper critically examines the theoretical basis for the notion of federalism, seeking to determine Nigeria’s suitability as a federal state in the first instance. A historical overview of the origin of Nigeria’s federalism—alongside a discussion of present-day predicaments—is presented in the preliminary analysis. Subsequently, the persisting problems in Nigeria’s federalism—like the monopoly of state power, revenue allocation, state creation and federal character—are re-visited with a view to determining the situation in the post-transition democratic environment.
See Full PDF2013, NASHERJ Vol. 11, No. 1 (June, 2013)58-65
The practice of federalism in Nigeria has come a long way. In its chequered history that has spanned through some six decades, Nigerian federalism has thrived amidst problems and prospects. Although the system has been sustained over the years despite obvious contradictions and challenges, there is no gainsaying the platitude that it is has been so for everything but true federalism. In this study, an attempt is made to reexamine the practice of federalism in Nigeria from the standpoint of some of its observable historical, structural and operational specificities with the view to proffering refreshing understanding on the essence of the practice. The paper recommends, among other things, urgent convocation of supreme national conference as an avenue to addressing and resolving nagging federalist questions in the interest of the nation.
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Abstract: The aim of this paper is to examine the origins, structure and features of Nigerian Federalism. The paper traces the origin of Nigerian federalism to colonial insinuations of conquest and divide and rule. Colonialism began with the reorganization and fusion of territories known as amalgamation between 1861 and 1914, an act which was not meant to nurture a federal idea. The finding of this paper reveals that, Nigerian federalism is a child of necessity rather than a colonial intention for the country. The colonial conquest had altered the symbiotic and inter-group relationships that had existed and persisted between the diverse cultures and people. This was replaced by enmity, divisions and hatred with strong sense of sectionalism, ethno-religious, tribal chauvinism and geographical polarizations. Ever since 1914 to date, the structure of Nigerian federalism has dramatically transformed from the level of provinces and regions to the current structure of 36 States and 774 Local Government Areas as well as the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The challenges that are facing Nigerian federalism are; revenue sharing formula among the tiers, state creation, resource control and power sharing. The paper utilizes the secondary source of data and analysis of documents as its methodology. The paper concludes that Nigerians have recognized the significance of the federal system of government and opt for its preservation, because it encourages unity in diversity among the 250 ethnic groups that make up the federation.
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This paper examines the current challenges of federalism in Nigeria, contextual and theoretical analyses and its implications. It aims to explain philosophically the variables that have influenced and are influencing the entrenchment of federalist option in Nigeria. In achieving this broad objective, secondary data such as scholarly works from the internet, newspapers and textbooks were used. Philosophical deduction and content analyses in relation to contextual background of federalism in Nigeria serve as the bases for arriving at the challenges of federalism in Nigeria. However, most literature on federalism focused on power relations between and among levels of government vis-à-vis fiscal federalism while issues relating to contextual dilemma and the pitfalls in the experiment have attracted few academic works. Moreover, scholarly works on the concepts of federalism are premised on the method of content analysis paying no or little attention to philosophical explanations. Hence, this paper seeks to investigate the aforementioned issues above. However, issues such as military incursion, corruption, civil war, colonial master and Nigerian elites' manipulations, etc, among others have been identified in this piece as contending factors that have created a setback to Nigerian federalism. Consequently, the paper suggests and recommended among others a strong anti-graft institution to lower the temple of corruption; an embracing fiscal formulae that sincerely and purposefully looks into population and derivation, a purposeful and un-politicised national conference should be organize; and regions or states should be encourage to tap their local resources for holistic economic development.
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The call for certain changes and reforms that would allow the federating units to have full authority and autonomy, structure and design a system of local council administration, have more revenue, insure equitable representation in the federal appointments, and establish separate police force, which means re-allocation of powers and functions has brought into focus argument for the strengthening of Nigerian federalism by strengthening the states, what has been termed “true federalism”. This paper argue using the process view of federalism that conditions, factors or forces which are conducive to federal stability, or rather to the successful operation of federal polity is peculiar to a particular environment. Thus, there are no clearly definable dimensions of what makes a ‘true federalism’. Federalism is rather a process, undergoing continuous modifications to fit the peculiarities of the environment in which it is being practiced. Therefore we suggest that a radical redistribution of power and resources is required to stabilize Nigerian federal system. In fashioning the acceptable form of power sharing, the interest of the citizen must be of utmost concern.
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Beijing Law Review
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Nigeria is a state populated by a plethora of ethnic, historical, religious and culturally diverse people, endowed with a vast range of natural, mineral and human resources. It is thus expected that she should be one of the most prosperous nations in the world. Ironically, she is mired in a myriad of problems. This paper examines the Nigerian federal system of government in relation to her many problems. It also argues for a re-definition and restructuring of the federal system as practiced in order to achieve the much coveted goals of economic development, political stability and over-arching security.
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This article argues that the Nigerian federation epitomises an incomplete federal arrangement. The feelings of marginalisation, which had been suppressed during the military era are fully expressed by ethno-regional groups in the post-military era and these feelings finds expression in the potent agitation for a more functional federal system. The Nigerian political elites have at different times attempted to grapple with the imperfections inherent in the country's federal system by putting in place a range of distributive and structural mechanisms but the increasing agitation for "true federalism" indicates that the governmental system is defective and in serious need of some bold political reform.
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2018, Asian Social Science
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In principle, Nigeria is said to be practicing Federalism since 1951. In fact, evidence on ground points to the opposite direction. As long as state governments lack control of the resources within their territories, and as long as the National Government controls law enforcement, the ultimate power of distributive and coercive politics will be concentrated at the center but under a de facto 'unitary' system. Nigeria's Federal structure is construed as a bad marriage that all parties involved dislike but dare not leave, yet there remain possibilities that could disrupt the precarious equilibrium in Abuja. It is widely believed that democracy offers a better framework than authoritarian rule, within which Federalism could be adequately utilized. However, democratic experience in Nigeria contradicts its notion of being a universal ideal. Although scholars argue that democratization is more likely to endure and succeed when it is propelled and owned by local forces than when foisted by powerful external forces. The paper concludes that efforts should be made towards blending the various communities in Nigeria into one nation in order to create a truly National Identity. This will enhance the practice of democracy and reposition Nigeria's Federalism. The paper also recommends that institutions which are rigid enough to endure the forces of change at the same time sufficiently flexible to absorb changing and often conflicting demands must be produced.
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Nigeria federalism was adopted in response to the heterogeneous nature of Nigeria in 1954. Since it's adoption, the nation has had to contend with the structural and operational defects in our federal system. These defects have largely been responsible for the restructuring of the federation from regionalism to states creation, which began in 1967 by the Gowon's Administration. However, the recent debate in Nigeria's federal system is the issue of power shift, which forms the subject of our study. To this end, the study has shown that the resolution of this agitation would be a large extent shape the future of our federation. It is important to note that, the agitation for power shift is predicated on the maginalization of the South by the North in the political process of the nation and the centrality of the state power in the political economy of the nation thereby making competition for political power very serious.
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2018, NIGERIAN JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY LAW [Vol. 19:1
The clamour for true federalism and, as a result, restructuring of the Nigerian Federation has led many to offer diverse suggestions on how best the federation may be restructured. On the assumption that Nigeria, indeed, deserves a true federal state and that our current constitutional framework is many steps short of it, this paper proposes how this goal may be achieved. In so doing, it discusses and critiques the various options that have been proffered for the achievement of a true federal state that will accommodate Nigeria’s diversity. More importantly, it reviews Nigeria’s current constitutional arrangement, which it claims depicts unitarism in character in light of its lopsidedness in favour of the central government in virtually all material respects. This anomalous constitutional arrangement is linked to the distortion created by the military through reconfiguration of the Nigeria State, which approach has helped to create the major impediment to meaningful constitutional reform – the majoritarian veto. It also examines the prospects, and other key challenges that have impeded the formation, of a consensus on the reforms that are needed to transform Nigeria from a State riddled with strives that threatens lives and properties and the peaceful co-existence of various nationalities that comprise it to a truly federal and progressive state. However, in light of the continuing, intense agitations for restructuring, especially by minority groups in Nigeria, the paper recommends several options to overcome the majoritarian veto in order to create a Nigerian federation that will truly secure unity, faith, peace and progress for all Nigerians.
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Federalism is often regarded as the appropriate governmental principle for countries with huge ethno-cultural diversities. Nigeria, with over two hundred and fifty ethnic groups inherited a federal system from Britain in 1960 and successive governments have attempted, with varying degrees of sincerity and commitment, to operate federal institutions that can accommodate the country"s ethnic, cultural, religious and linguistic diversities and nurture a sense of national unity. However, the leaders of these governments, at all levels, have failed to fulfil their obligations to offer good governance anchored on equitable political arrangements, transparent administrative practices and accountable public conduct. Indeed, failure to encourage genuine power sharing has triggered dangerous rivalries between the central government and the thirty six states governments over revenue from the country"s oil and other natural resources. The defective federal structure has also promoted .
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2014, Nigerian Chapter of Arabian Journal of Business and Management Review
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2010, Federal Governance
In comparison with established democracies Nigeria is a highly populated and ethnic fragmented state. Therefore after colonial rule and independence a federal constitutional structure was supposed to bring the processes for conflict resolution between the ethnic groups. In 1960 Nigeria started as a highly decentralised state and went through important changes until 1999 towards greater centralisation which found its culmination in regular military governments and open conflicts. Until 1999 each constitution promulgated by the military was considered as a step towards the transition to democracy. After the constitution making process, political actors aspired to constitutional reforms in a democratic way. Those attempts at mega constitutional change were not successful, which lead to military coups once again. This paper traces back mega-constitutional change in Nigeria between 1999 until 2007. After a brief introduction the paper proceeds with the foundations of federalism and const.
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2020, The Dynamics of Federalism in Nigeria
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2014, Public Policy and Administration Research
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2023, INTERNATIONAL SOCIAL SCIENCES AND EDUCATION JOURNAL ( ISSEJ )
The growing frustration among different disenchanted regions of Nigeria raises the question of whether Nigeria’s current federal structure is delivering the full benefits of citizenship to every region. This study investigates the practicability of Nigeria’s federalism, taking stock of different challenges confronting the nation-state, which are mainly economic and political. The study adopts descriptive analysis, which allows us to identify and describe the topic in a clear and in-depth way. The data for the study were gathered from secondary sources such as journal articles, internet sources and textbooks. The inclusion of these sources was evaluated based on the relevance of their input to the discourse, providing information helpful to the understanding of the topic and supporting the argument of the paper. The study revealed that the current system of federalism fails to meet the standards of true federalism. This is based on the idea that the autonomy advocated for states and regions is not respected in law or practice. The study, therefore, recommends restructuring and autonomy, which are meant to give every state and region a sense of belonging, improve unity, create healthy competition and help citizens achieve their aspirations. This will safeguard against a heavyhanded and unfair central government, which will allow states to maintain a degree of autonomy and make decisions that they believe best serve local interests. The study concludes that Nigeria must focus on restructuring and autonomy to drive a decentralized governing structure, which creates balance, preserve the country's national unity and cohesion
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A great democracy must either sacrifice self-government to unity or Preserve it by federalism. The coexistence of several Nations under same state is a test, as well as tshe best security of its freedom. Federalism has been described as the best form of governmental organization capable of accommodating diversities of interest. Federalism, democracy and constitutionalism all have their underlying characteristics and their advocates employed them as a measuring tool in ascertaining the extent on which individual states conformity or nonconformity. In this article, we examined these basic and related concepts after which we examined these features as provided in the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria so as to measure the extent of her conformity or non conformity with these principles in practice and made some recommendations that will further upgrade her to the level of modern advanced federations.
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Nigeria, like many other states characterized by ethno-linguistic, socio-economic, cultural and political heterogeneities began to adopt federal system from October, 1954, about forty years later when the British colonial masters together with (to some extent) the nationalists and politicians constitutionally instituted a federal system to among others properly accommodate the heterogeneities among the regions. The federal system has been in operation since then except for short period of Ironsi’s military regime (January-July, 1966). The operation of this system is however, not without somedegree of success and shortcomings. This paper studied the journey so far in adopting and institutiona-lising the system, the prospects, impediments and the questions of national unity and nation building. The study used secondary sources to gather data. The study found that: unity and cooperation are essential to Nigeria’s economic, political and social prosperity, harmony and achieving common national objectives; Nigeria’s national development is an embodiment of central, states and local interests involving heterogeneities as portrayed in the Nigerian make up; Nigeria has been practicing federal system for about sixty years now, but only little has been achieved in the attempt to foster unity and cooperation among Nigerians and pursue the task of nation building; that intense regional/states and local rivalries have shaped, dominated and threatened the federal system; the North-South religious-political dichotomy and politics negatively affect the pursuit of national unity and development; the level of unity and cooperation among Nigerians is poor and Nigerians tend to emphasize forces of division than unity and are today more committed to their ethnic, sectional, religious and other primordial sentiments thereby endangering the prospects of peace, unity, cohesiveness, progress and stability of the country; Nigerians are yet to arrive at and fully agree on a common type/structure of federalism to adopt; prolonged period of military has impeded the institutional and proper evolution of federalism and national development. The paper recommends among others diversification of economy especially to solid minerals and agric sectors, devising and working strictly according to development plans, institutionalisation of democratic principles and popular based decisions making, promotion of national integration, values and tolerance, cooperation, accommodation and social cohesion among Nigerians, more emphasis on national identity, recognition and respect of constitutionally established federal character, more emphasis on implementation of other government principles based on social justice, total respect for principles of democracy, fundamental rights and rule of law, checking and regulating the activities of ethno-religious organisations which overtly or covertly generate and increase tension in the federal structure and the polity.
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This paper is an examination of the political contestations over ‘true federalism’ in Nigeria. The paper posits that the demand for ‘true federalism’ continue to pose serious challenges to the corporate existence of Nigeria, especially since the return to democracy in May 29, 1999. It contends that the contestations over the quest for the adoption of ‘true federalism’ render prejudicial the conceptualization and contextualization of federalism. The paper concludes that there is no ideal federalism anywhere, as no federal system is ‘true’ or ‘false’, despite the differences across many countries practicing federalism. The paper suggests that inclusive and competitive federalism rather than ‘true federalism’ should be the watchword in the discourse of federalism in Nigeria. Keywords: True federalism, Multiculturalism, Resource control, Colonialism, Nigeria.
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2021, PanAfrican Journal of Governance and Development
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2013, International Journal Of Advance Research In Public Policy, Administration & Development Strategies.
The federal principles requires arrangement of mutual convenience and for peace, progress and definite sacrifice by the units through federalisation or unification of the state by giving up power and authority to the created central Tgovernment, simultaneously retaining for themselves other power and authority at federating units on behalf of their separate and distinct communities. This is the classical precept of federalism which contrary to Nigerian federal system, since the adoption of formal federalism in 1954 by Lyttleton Constitution, the country continues to operate the system with push and pull and even Nigeria had to fight a civil war to preserve the system. People of different background were merged together under one system; these can tend to pull people apart. The federal precept is suggesting that the federating unit shall operate according to their peculiarities brought about by their historical, traditional and cultural background. Unfortunately, the Nigerian federal system is contrary to the above precept; in view of this, the forces of ethnic pluralism, cultural diversity, clamour for political space, demand for state police and Boko haram insurgency continue to pull the country apart with partial failure. These have greater implications to our sustainable development. Looking at devastating effects of this arrangement anomalies that emerged out of evolution of the system in Nigeria, this paper set out to analyse some of these dislocations and suggested that a new federal structure is required; a structure in which the component parts of the central government can operate according to their peculiarities, though coordinate, if our development is to be sustain .This paper relied on secondary sourced data. A
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2020, In C. A. Obiora and U. G. Ojukwu (Eds.), Comparative Federalism: A Reader (pp. 159-190). Nnewi: Jovan Media
Introduction The structure and composition of societies define their governance and administration. States with remarkable social diversities tend to respect their bases of heterogeneity. The units and strands of such societies cling to their groups and re-enforce their exclusivity thereby seeking respect for their local autonomy. In that order, political elites capitalize on remarkable primordial cleavages to advance attuned group behaviour that promote centrifugal and divisive tendencies in the state. Nigeria is a plural state with varied diversities counting for about 250 ethnic nationalities/groupings with the Hausa/Fulani, Yoruba and the Igbos as the 3 majors generating situations where Musa is Hausa, Femi is Yoruba and Obi is Igbo just as in the other minority groups. Hence, nobody is a Nigerian and loyalty is primordial and lies with the groups. At this, the Nigerian government and administration are structured to foster representation and participation of the various groups and nationalities that make up the country. The evolution of federalism in Nigeria derives from economic, political/constitutional, social and cultural developments which have influenced the nature and character of intergovernmental relations (Ekpo, 2004). Fiscal and power configurations exist between and amongst various levels and organs of government thereby giving rise to the adoption of federalism with overt power sharing structure inherent in the exclusive, concurrent and residual legislative lists (Chiamogu, Onwughalu & Chiamogu, 2012; Onwughalu, Obiorah, Chiamogu & Chiamogu, 2019). In a federal system of government, powers and functions are shared and divided vertically and horizontally amongst the levels of government and their agencies respectively. The three tiers of government: the federal, state and local governments supposedly have defined power allotments with the national government wielding overriding status and functions as the level that has the responsibility of fostering unity in diversity coupled with perhaps the impacts of militocracy in Nigerian politics. Obviously, the long period of military rule strangulated core institutions and structures of governance and administration in the Nigerian democratic experiment. It did not only play with the independence of the judiciary but introduced orchestrated drive for executive ascendancy where the head of state arrogated much powers to his office (the executive) and took over the duties of the legislature. Understanding inter and intra relations between and amongst these levels and organs of governments is thus a key parameter to mapping out healthy functioning or lack thereof in federal systems of government. Polities based on those principles are complex systems, each with their own internal logic and means of translating into concrete forms the combination of self-rule and joint rule (Poirier, n.d). Interestingly, it is pertinent to observe that federalism as a system of government is context dependent. Its practice varies according to states who could make it either decentralized or centralized, cooperative or conflictual, congressional or parliamentary, dualist or integrated (Amadi, Echem & Nwoko, 2017). No two states practice federalism the same way. Nigerian federalism is patterned after that of the United States but Nigerian federalism practice is significantly different from the US. In this chapter therefore, we shall explore critical explications on the dialectics and intrigues in power relations and configurations between and amongst the levels of government and their agencies according to the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended. At that, we shall (re)define and properly position key concepts such as federalism, identify and analyse its types, determine why states adopt federalism with particular reference to the Nigerian situation. Those will be closely followed by literature-based explanation of the meaning of intergovernmental relations trailed by analysis of its models/typologies to pave way for proper and detailed espouse of the nature and trend of intergovernmental relations in Nigerian federalism focusing on the fourth republic.
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Jurnal Studi Pemerintahan
The quest for restructuring Nigeria’s federal system has been a frequent tune from most of her citizens. This challenge has created a wide gap in the federation which threatens the sovereignty of the nation. These agitations for secession/disintegration, and restructuring from different strata of the nation have constituted a major threat to Nigerian sovereignty. Hence, the study looks at the make or mar locus confronting Nigeria federal system. Primary and secondary data were used for this study; the primary data were gathered through the use of a questionnaire, while content analysis was used for secondary data. The study revealed some issues involved in the agitation for restructuring which includes among others, the secession of some federating units, the creation of additional states, corruption, leadership crises, and the poor state of the country’s economy. Hence, the study recommends that there is an urgent need to restructure Nigeria’s federalism structure, especially the c.
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2013, International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Invention ISSN (Online): 2319 – 7722, ISSN (Print): 2319 – 7714 www.ijhssi.org Volume 2 Issue 8ǁ August. 2013ǁ PP.100-107
This paper explores the issue of unification federalism in Nigeria, which has been an obstacle to peace, development and threats to security .The findings from an extensive reading of related materials suggest that, the root of contemporary political conflict and underdevelopment in Nigeria political landscape shows clearly in the area of imbalance political structures that were established before and after independence. Thus, there is continuous agitation by many ethnic nationalities for a sovereign national conference in order to renegotiate the Nigeria federal deal to put Nigeria on the path of true federalism to guarantee her unity and co-existence. All attempts to solve these problems over the years have failed. The paper contends that unitary federalism in Nigeria is an imposition and extension of colonial and military entrenched inequalities in the Nigerian state. The paper suggested that fiscal and political restructuring as panacea for the instituted conflicts and underdeve.
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2020, REBOOT NIGERIA
The paper explains the theory of federalism, its practice by different countries, and its several variants. It establishes the key characteristics of a federal state. Nigeria"s governance styles under colonial administration, military dictatorship and civilian democratic rule were briefly reviewed. The paper then delves into the constitutional provisions of the Nigerian 1999 Constitution through which power has been over concentrated in the Federal Government and concludes that Nigeria"s federalism is the centralized type. Numerous negative effects of centralism were listed and suggestions proffered as to how the country can pull back from the crises currently rocking it. The paper concludes by emphasizing the urgency with which corrective action needs to be taken in order to avert a possible major political upheaval.
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