Religious and ethnic loyalties are major threats to national disintegration. Instead, half-hearted practice of federalism has resulted in over-centralisation of fiscal and political power, creation of unviable and federally dependent states and local governments, increased corruption, ethnicity and minority agitations over oil revenue. Federalism: An Overview . Geographical Nearness/Contiguity: States that are not separated by natural barriers such as Mountains, Valleys, Oceans, etc. The study adopted qualitative research design using documentary content analysis. Thus, Nigeria's federalism is not only complex but also hard to understand. Unlike treaties with another thematic focus, the majority of constituent states must give their full consent before any child-related instrument may be domesticated at the federal level and subsequently re-enacted in the domestic states. In developing countries like India, Iraq and Nigeria, federalism has either failed to close developmental gaps and ethno-communal tensions among various states or, more worryingly, in some cases . The works addresses this phenomenon by . This is because it has generated so many problems capable of threatening the corporate existence and continuity of the Nigerian state. The major reason for the adoption of federal system of government in Nigeria is borne out of the historical experience that brought all the ethical groups together under one Nigeria. Although, in recent times, there have been growing disagreements and agitations for the Sovereign National Conference, where diverse people come by joint identity and integration crisis. Nigeria inclusive. According to Ayoade (2009:iii): Nigerians have come to identify the first republic 1960- 66 as the golden age of federalism in Nigeria. However, the adoption of federalism in Nigeria was a compromise aimed to fairly distribute authority between the states and the national government. Consequently, the paper posits that the prospects of genuine nationhood and development in Nigeria lies in a swift adoption of true federalism. To protect and preserve the the local independence of every ethnic group in the country. However, there is a need to ensure that the issues and challenges confronting Nigeria's federal system be resolved. Beyond the ethnic and cultural diversities that necessitated Nigeria to adopt federalism as a political organization, Nigeria's choice can also be explained by her population size, land mass, imposition by Britain-Nigeria colonial master and the quest for even development. 1. Federalism in Nigeria can be traced to Sir Frederick Lord Lugard , when the Northern and Southern protectorates were amalgamated in 1914. Adopt different philosophy entirely that will guarantee group rights and the acceptance of the heterogeneity of the nation. It is most commonly referred to as federalism. Evidence abound that Nigeria‟s form of federal system has been grappling with serious working and institutional challenges. Problems of Nigerian Federalism 1) Revenue Allocation: This has been a problem in Nigeria. Furthermore, Onah (2006) highlighted the reasons for the adoption of federalism to secession; (1) States can join together in a federation to jointly become powerful enough to deter or award off external aggression . The multifaceted differences that exist . federalism, cooperative federalism, organic federalism, dual federalism, confederation, decentralization, which are all terms used to designate shades and levels of federalism. whearedefined a federal system as: The imbalance in the federal arrangement had generated fears and suspicions of domination among Nigerian groups and their leaders. The period marked the beginning of the recognition of sub national governments during which fmancial responsibilities were devolved to the three regions -North, East and West. Federalism in Nigeria could help in talking about the problem of national integration. It sourced its data from secondary . destabilizing factor in the practice of federalism in Nigeria. During the period, the regions 2. Although, in recent times, there have been growing disagreements and agitations for the Sovereign National Conference, where . Faced with these problems, Nigeria adopted federalism as a means of achieving its much needed goal of national integration. The case for federalism in Nigeria has been to accommodate and manage diversity while taking economic advantage of its sheer size and population to promote development. In view of the threats of The full explanation of Nigeria's federalism. This essay showcases Federalism in India in a twofold modus: The history of Federalism in India and the Federal Scheme under the present-day Constitution of India. The adoption of a federation structure in any political system presupposes the existence of diverse and competing ethnic and linguistic variables. The period marked the beginning of the recognition of sub national governments during which fmancial responsibilities were devolved to the three regions -North, East and West. marginalization or deprivation in Nigeria's political landscape. suggest the adoption of the federalist political structure, so as to ensure efficient administration of both the vast territories of Nigeria and its ethno-tribal heterogeneous population. This chapter introduces the reader to three different types of political structures--unitary, confederal, and federal--with an emphasis on federalism.It explains why the Framers of the U.S. Constitution adopted a federal system, reviews other federal countries in the world, and surveys arguments for and against federalism. Secession is a recurrent threat in Nigeria's political lexicon dating back to 1951 (this was before the adoption of a federal political framework). Given this background, it could be reasoned that Nigeria's adoption of the federal system was not as a strategy to manage problems of pre independence period but more importantly as an enduring strategy that would help detonate a major source of threat to the future political stability of an independent Nigeria. At the Ibadan Constitutional Conference of 1950 Nigerian leaders decided to form a The situation attracts growing interest and concern. Federalism in Nigeria refers to the devolution of self-governance by the West African nation of Nigeria to its federated states, who share sovereignty with the Federal Government . This is what has been administratively put in place as a political mechanism for governance within the Nigerian polity. And again, we are back to the problem of corruption in Nigerian. INTERNAL COLONIALISM IN NIGERIA Some of the reasons for the adoption of federalism in Nigeria are the diversity of the nation and the desire for political, cultural and social identity of a people of over 250 ethnic groups, several languages, diversities and a lot of political traditions; the desire for some form of It further explores mainstream approaches to the study of federalism with the aim to highlight their relevance to federal studies. The All three variables show centralization to be over-determined, in that, all documented variables point to the . This process is one of the primary reasons why democratic countries choose this form over the other governing options which are available. Micronesia, Nigeria, Russia, Serbia and Montenegro, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, United States, Venezuela. destabilizing factor in the practice of federalism in Nigeria. The example of Nigeria is instructive: Till 1914, Northern and Southern Nigeria were two separate British colonies. It is not surprising that Nigeria in its 55 years of political sojourn has tried different forms of federalism. (i) Violent secession attempts had been matched with force and Wars broke out. This seemed to be the default option given its heterogeneous nature. The founding fathers of the country opted for federalism because of their belief that federal states have the intrinsic structural and institutional capacity to accommodate diversity. Given that federalism is a multifaceted subject due to its institutional, constitutional, political, sociological and . Today I want to present a case study: the Movement for the Actualisation of a Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), founded in 1999 among the Igbo people of southeast Nigeria. 5. The federal constitution specifies the legislative powers of the central government and governments of component regions or states. The paper interrogated contending issues ravaging Nigeria‟s federal polity with a clarion call for timely adoption of neo-federalism paradigm. Unfolding Federalism. of diversities helps in a nations decision to adopt the aggregative or disaggregative type of federalism. 3. Local government is born out of federalism because federalism has to do with the . This embodies ideas of promise, obligation, and undertaking; and consequently, the federal idea . religious, ethnic and regional elites in the quest to capture state power renders the reasons for the adoption of federalism useless. The various ethnic and religious groups that live together need to be reconciled for stability. To many, Nigeria's federalism has remained fragile with all signs of impossibility. Corruption and unqualified leaders cause ethnic conflict in Nigeria. In the Nigerian situation, the reverse is the case, the states have become slaves to the Federal Government, running to them . Students had five specific tasks: to describe one difference between a federal system and a unitary system , to explain why both Nigeria and Russia adopted a federal system , to describe two disadvantages of federalism in Nigeria, to . The foregoing explains the reason for the arguments that in Nigeria, federalism offered the best option to accommodate the ethno-linguistic and religious diversities, which where for the most part, geographically distributed. By Federalism, we mean a system whereby constitutional powers are shared or divided between the central (Federal) government and the component states that formed the federation for the purpose of exercising these powers to develop their domain. It employed qualitative research method with classical model of In this chapter, we focus on this form of power-sharing. In Nigeria, state creation was originally conceived as a solution to the problems of ethnic minority groups. The problems of nation-building and national development in Nigeria would start to receive proper attention only under a truly federal system of government and It is usually designed to cope with difficult task of statecraft. The study reveals that, unequal power relation affects the country democratic system. Many have attributed this development largely due to the successive . 6. 4) Corruption and Inept Leadership. Federalism is the sharing of power between a national government and the states that reside within its borders, instead of one or the other having all the authority. However, the adoption of federalism in Nigeria was a compromise aimed to fairly distribute authority between the states and the national government. There are numerous reasons adduced for adoption of Federal System of Government. Louis Wirth (Hepburn 1978, 1) defined an ethnic minority group as a group of people who because of their physical or cultural characteristics, "are singled out from the others in the society in which they live for differential and unequal treatment and who therefore regard themselves . Since the adoption of federalism in 1954, the aims of the founding fathers are still far from being achieved. federalism adopt federal constitution. (c) Another related problem in the study of federalism is the distinction between the definition and accompanying characteristics.