Restructuring the Nigerian Federation for Proper Functioning of the Nigerian Federalism

Abstract

The basic minimal structures required for a country to lay claims to the practice of federalism include a political system in which there is power sharing under a written constitution with a government consisting of at least two orders: a central or federal government and the governments of the constituent units. Each order of government receives an allocation of financial resources tailored to their specific requirements. Nigeria has been a federal state since 1954, yet even this basic requirement of federalism has not been attained in the Nigerian federalism. This paper discusses the attributes of federalism and the practice of federalism in Nigeria in comparison with the practice in other federal states. It is observed that there are a lot of issues in the practice of federalism in Nigeria, which make the practice far removed from the practice of true federalism. Constitutional amendment as the need arises is part of the typical dynamism of constitutional order to meet the aspirations of a federation. Nigeria is presently going through a constitutional amendment process, which it is hoped will deal with some of the issues in the structure of the Nigerian federalism.