Federalism and Resource Control: The Nigerian Experience

Abstract

Federalism and Resource Control are two contentious issues.  The practice of federalism in Nigeria has elicited several reactions and thus generated critical debates by both scholars, politicians, journalists, commentators and more particularly the oil producing communities of the Niger Delta Region. The list is endless. What has occasioned these reactions and thus generated this un-ending debate? At the centre of the argument, the answers to this very contentious and pivotal question. One fundamental requirement which forms the very basis of any federal arrangement or system of government as postulated by K.C Wheare, is “financial autonomy” of the different units of government in a federation. The centrality of the role of financial autonomy and independence in guaranteeing “true federalism” cannot be overemphasized. Against this background, this paper focused on the Federalism-Resource-Control nexus in Nigeria. The paper finds that, every state in the federation of Nigeria should control and manage the natural resources located therein… this does not approximate the seizure of the oil resources of the Niger Delta by the Niger Delta people, but it indicates a sense of participation. A total of eight recommendations were made in order to guarantee a strong and united federation-Central to these is that, until and unless the constituent parts (states) in the country are sufficiently empowered by enabling practices that conforms   to the principles of federalism peace in the oil producing that region and by extension the country is elusive. The rest part of the paper is divided into six sections-the first section, provided the introduction and  background to the study; the second contextualizes the conceptual underpinnings of Nigeria’s Federalism; the third section deals with Resources Control as a fundamental  feature of true-federalism; the fourth section explains the root causes of the Niger Delta; the fifth section, enumerated some recommendations; the sixth which is the final section concludes the papers with the view that, the essence of true federalism  is to allow each state or region in a federation significant  measure of autonomy to manage its affairs and that, the federalist debate in Nigeria is centered essentially on the need to understand the basis of the contract of true federalism  and resource control. This debate, the paper suggests is long standing, passionate and inconclusive.

Keywords: federalism, resource control, niger delta, financial autonomy and conceptual clarification.