CONSOLIDATING FEDERALISM IN NIGERIA CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS

Abstract

Federalism is aimed at enhancing good governance, through equitable sharing of powers, resources, duties and responsibilities between the central government and the component units/regions. It is best suited for diverse nation-states where there are multiplicity of tribes, languages and religions; hence it fits perfectly into the need of Nigeria, which can best be described as heterogeneous society. However, the benefits of federalism has not been well harnessed and put to optimum utilization as a resultant effect of successive bad governance, corruption, favoritisms and nepotism, which has eaten deep into the socio-political and economic fabrics of Nigeria, hence, the political life has remained immature, parochial and a zero-sum in nature, while the economy has remained stagnant and basically monolithic, depending on crude oil, whose price is unstable for any meaningful economic sustainability. The aim of this paper is to examine the challenges of federalism in Nigeria, with a view of providing some recommendations toward finding solutions to these problems. Theoretically, the study adopts the co-operative federalism theory. Methodologically, the study is pivoted on the qualitative approach. The paper identified successive bad governance, corruption, favoritism and nepotism, minority issues and creation of states/local government, revenue allocation, and secession, as some of the major factors militating against the success of federalism in Nigeria. The paper recommends the weakening of the center to further accommodate the component units/regions, recognizing their peculiarities, also adequate measures must be put in place by the three tiers of government in other to halt the spate of the endemic corruption in Nigeria