FEDERALISM AND POLITICAL RESTRUCTURING IN NIGERIA

FEDERALISM AND POLITICAL RESTRUCTURING IN NIGERIA

CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Nigeria has undergone a long process of restructuring in terms of the number of geo-political administrative units constituting the polity. This process is popularly referred to as “state creation” and/or “reorganization” the process whereby new geo-political units/constituents known as “states” in most federations are created out of existing or old ones. The outcome of this process is usually an increase in the number of states constituting the Nigerian federation. Historically speaking, the issue of state creation in Nigeria started as far back as 1963, when the Midwest was carved out of the former Western Region by the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa administration. In 1967 the country was further divided into 12 states by the administration of General Yakubu Gowon. This progressive increase in the number of territorial units continued in 1976 when the Murtala Administration created an additional 7 states, making the total of states 19. Between 1987 and 1991,
General Babangida in two separate exercises, created 11 additional states, bringing the total up to 30. And in 1996, the Abacha
administration created 6 more states to make the territorial units of the country 36. In attempting to trace the history and politics of state creation in Nigeria, scholarly opinions vary widely, almost occasioning confusion, with particular reference to the timing of the first exercise. A major means of evaluating the level of civilization or civicness of modern political systems are the level and extent to which they are well-organized. The political organization of states most oen, reflects the structure of governmental authority, level of administrative efficiency and the attendant power relations. Based on the structure, it is convenient to determine the extent to which authority is dispersed or concentrated in a particular political system. One of the most enduring modes of political arrangement in the world today is federalism. Federalism presupposes that national and states/or regional governments should stand to each other in a relation of meaningful autonomy resting upon a balanced division of powers and resources. Each state/or region must have power and resources sufficient to support the structure of a functioning government, able to stand and compete on its own against the others. The attraction for federalism borders on its perceived integrative tendency, which makes it capable of serving heterogeneous societies well in situations of crisis. In the words of Roberts and Simbine (2003) when socially and culturally distinct people find themselves together in the same polity
through circumstance of history, to live peacefully together and govern together, they have to strike a balance, which must be acceptable to all the parties involved. Federalism is the system which shares power in such a way that each recipient unit assumes a separate existence and commands relatively exclusive authority over some clearly specified sphere of state activity, in principle, ensures such a balance.
However, in spite of its integrative tendency, Odukoya and Ashiru (2007) are quick to point out that federalism does not necessarily posses the magic wand or formula that instantaneously resolves the problems and contradictions of heterogeneous societies. Rather they argue that the socio-economic and political specificities of dierent societies, coupled with constant and continuous engineering, re engineering and adjustment are needed, if the goals of federalism are to be achieved.

FEDERALISM AND POLITICAL RESTRUCTURING IN NIGERIA