Federalism, Democratic Governance and the Issues of Restructuring in Nigeria (original) (raw)
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Nigerian Federalism: The Quest for Restructuring
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...
FUDMA Journal of Politics and International Affairs, 2020
Restructuring has been a usual clamor in a heterogeneous societies due to their nature. The study focusses on the challenges of Nigerian federalism and restructuring as a way out. It identified the factors necessitating the call for restructuring which are conceived as the challenges of the nation's federalism. These are; elite interests, fear of domination, political idiosyncrasy among others. Devolution of power, review of revenue sharing, call for creation of states among others, were also identified as areas of contention in the struggle. The study adopted secondary method of data collection, and being a qualitative research, a descriptive analytical method was adopted. David Easton's systems theory was adopted. The analytical discourse, revealed that, there are calls for restructuring from all quarters. The study concludes that, restructuring Nigeria is imperative, and that, it must carry every quarter alone with high degree of equity; for that is one of the most possible way by which cooperation and trust; which are paramount for institutional and organizational progress and development can be obtained. Organizing a Sovereign National Conference SNC as a platform for discussion, local government autonomy, review of revenue sharing pattern, creation of more states, and making Traditional Rulers more relevant in the governing process were recommended.
Restructuring the Nigerian Federalism: the Proposed Form and Shape
Middle-East Journal of Scientific Research 25 (7): 1518-1526, 2017
Nigeria from colonial period through post colonial period has settled for federal system of government which allows for division of powers and jurisdictions among the levels of government that make up the federation. Overtime, there have been observable imperfections in the Nigerian federalism which have triggered protests, agitations and patriotic calls for restructuring of the system. This study was intended to expose those factors that gave rise to imperfections in the Nigerian federal system and proposed the form/shape of restructuring to be adopted in the country. To achieve the above broad objective, content analytical method was adopted as data were generated from secondary sources such as official publications, articles from reputable journals, newspapers, conference and workshop papers, internet materials, textbooks, etc. This source was augmented with direct observation of the practice of federalism in Nigeria. Cooperative Federalism is the theory upon which the study is anchored. The findings revealed that there have been a lot of contradictions in the Nigerian federalism which needed urgent restructuring to bring the system to minimum international best practices. On the basis of the foregoing, we commended as follows: that there should be devolution of more powers to the federating units in Nigeria; that fiscal federalism should be practiced to give room for resource control by the federating units and that the principles of federal character as enshrined in our national constitution should be observed in appointment and location of critical infrastructure across all sections of the country.
POLITICAL RESTRUCTURING AS NIGERIAN FEDERALISM.docx
This study seeks to proffer a deep review and interrogation of the present clamour for political restructuring in Nigeria and the role that federalism plays and can play in the desire for the restructuring of the Nigerian system. It provides a wider perspective of the need for federalism for political restructuring in different angles and perspective.
Nigerian Federalism and the Unending Clamour for Restructuring: Which Way Forward? 1 2
Journal, 2023
federal system entails coming together either wittingly or unwittingly of various nations of distinct socio-cultural and historical backgrounds, exploiting common geographical Apr oximity to form a strong national government. The Nigerian experience however, appears that, the regional geographical entities that made up the Nigerian state were deliberately fused together by the British Colonial Authority for a vested interest. Although one thing that appears interesting in a federal system, is the constitutional division of powers between the central government on one hand and the governments of the federating units on the other. In the Nigerian model, the provision of the constitution has made the central government stronger being the only tier with powers to enforce the exclusive or national matters and correspondingly, makes the federating units weak and subordinates rather than coordinates. This arrangement perhaps made some people to see Nigerian federal structure as skewed and a quasi-form of federalism. This by and large ignited a clamour for restructuring as an option for a redress. The paper examines this phenomenon utilizing elite theory, with data largely obtained from secondary sources. The study adopts qualitative method of analysis with a finding revealing that poor leadership rather than the federal structure arrangement is mainly responsible for groups' agitations on restructuring Nigerian state. Consequently, the paper recommends that good governance rather than restructuring provides immediate solution to the problems associated with Nigerian federalism.
The Nigerian State and the Quest for Restructuring: Implications for Democratic Consolidation
This study examined the current challenges facing federalism in Nigeria and how it had hampered unity and development. The origin of federalism in Nigeria was traced to Littleton constitution of 1954, which bestowed on regional governments powers to generate and utilize funds at their own discretion and then pay royalties to the central government. During this period (1954)(1955)(1956)(1957)(1958)(1959)(1960)(1961)(1962)(1963)(1964)(1965)(1966)(1967)(1968)(1969), each region was economically viable and was able to develop at their own pace. However, the problem with Nigerian federalism started when the military intercepted the first republic and introduced centralized federalism characterized with greater allocation of source of generating revenue to the central government, ethnic rivalries, secession threat, minority agitations, corruption and demand for state creation. All these problems had their roots on wrong application of the principles of true federalism. Based on these problems, this paper proffered redistribution of powers to enable each federating unit operates and develop independent of central government. Also, to redress structural imbalance that has encouraged sectional dominance and over dependence on the federal authority for revenue. To achieve that, the paper used thematic analyses as information were generated through the secondary sources. The paper found amongst others that, federalism in Nigeria exists only in paper and not in reality. We therefore, recommend for a total restructure of the entire geographical locations so as to accommodate the dissent tribes that is today, clamoring for independence.
Nigerian morbid federalism and demand for political restructuring
African Journal of Political Science and International Relations
The foundation of Nigeria's problems lies in its historical development. This is linked to the swift design by predatory colonial masters aimed at achieving their political economy in colonialization of Africa. Sequel to the amalgamation of the southern and northern protectorates in 1914, Nigeria's minimal state has continued to witness serial and intractable agitations, political interplays and intrigues and aspirations of statesmen and nationalists turned into defensive, mutual distrusts and regionalized. The social formation was at disequilibrium, hence, heightening the rate of agitations from different quarters. More worrisome is ever increasing calls for reformulation and restructuring of ailing Nigerian federal practice characterized by centripetal forces. However, it is based on this backdrop that the paper sets to interrogate the organic composition of Nigerian federalism; constitutional conferences and logic of political restructuring and the implications of Nigerians' perceptive on restructuring question. Methodologically, the paper appropriated documentary method and data were ostensibly generated through secondary sources of data collection and analyzed in content. The theoretical framework of analysis for the study was adequately anchored on the classical political economy paradigm as pioneered by Karl Marx; and validated through the writings of Ake, Alavi and Ifesinachi. The findings of the study had significantly revealed that federalism in Nigeria is more or less a feeding bottle system. Also implicated is that Nigerian state has failed to foster social engineering and nation-building, thereby enhancing agitations for restructuring. The paper recommends the need to devolve powers to other tiers of government other than concentration of power at center.
Federalism in Nigeria – Problems, Prospects and the Imperative of Restructuring
IJASSH, 2018
Across the globe, Federalism has emerged as one of the most preferred form of government based on its integrative capability to approximate the heterogeneous political life of multi-ethnic and multi-linguistic societies. However in the Nigerian situation, the practice of federalism has remained a foreboding nightmare due to the skewed nature of federal practice which has led to serious contestations among the constituent nationalities thus resulting in endless tinkering and attempts at dissolution. The problem Nigeria has had to grapple is how to secure an efficient central government that would help preserve national unity while allowing free scope for the diversities of the multi-ethnic and multilingual constituent units. Despite the expansion from the colonial federal legacy of three political regions to a union of 36 states and 774 Local Governments, pressures for fundamental federal reforms have remained a persistent, intense and divisive feature of contemporary Nigerian politics. Thus, the paper utilized secondary (including historical) sources of data to show that notwithstanding the existence of other forms of logic, the main drive towards political restructuring in Nigeria is the recognition that existing state institutions, particularly at the center, are inadequate to apprehend, comprehend and resolve emerging challenges. It concludes on the note that the ability of Nigeria's post-civil war federalism to prevent state disintegration or a recurrence of large-scale ethno-secessionist violent movements has waned considerably, thus, the center would not hold much longer except the polity undergoes political, economic, structural and functional restructuring.
Restructuring And Clamour For True Federalism In Nigeria: A Comparative Analysis
Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 2018
Federalism has been given several meaning such that the new lexicons on the subject in Nigeria are 'true' and restructuring. However, the concept has more of a normative dimension than an empirical interpretation. This makes it difficult to generalize across the various political systems that have adopted a federal system. The primary aim of federalism is to accommodate diversity in a single entity. The challenge however lies in the underlining principle of federalism that will be suitable in resolving salient political issues in these societies. The debate often has resolve around the ideal model of federal arrangement that is suitable across time and space. While there have been diverse perspectives of federalism and its operations, consensus on the ideal model is still lacking. Thus, bringing to the fore arguments that federalism is a means to an end and not an end in itself. Consequently, the issues that necessitate the adoption of federalism should be the emphasis of the principles of federalism and not the adoption of a model that may not adequately capture the peculiarities of those societies. This paper attempts a conceptualisation of the concept and makes a comparison of its practice in United States of America and Nigeria.