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FEDERALISM AND NATIONAL QUESTION IN NIGERIA
Okunola Muyiwa Olabode1
Abstract
The political history of Nigeria and its attendant challenges could be traced to
the period of the amalgamation in 1914. The pattern of integration since the
amalgamation of Southern and Northern Nigeria had hindered the
achievement of shared values, mutual trust and common national identity.
Thus, the bloody Nigerian civil war from 1967-70 had explained consequence
of structural defect and other challenges inherited from the colonialist by
political elites and unequal struggle for power which provide strong support
for the thesis of the inevitability of instability since independence. The paper
explains that Nigerian federal system merely exists in principle, as what is in
practice in Nigeria today is superficial federalism. The polarisation and
instability in Nigerian federation today arose from the brazenly sectarian
behavior of the ethno-military governments that ruled the nation from 1984-
1999. Exploring secondary data, the study examines Nigerian federalism and
its consequential effect on National question. The paper concluded that the
modality for the harmonious relationship among the federating-States cannot
be achieved without first addressing some issues like the structure of the
federation, management of the economy, power sharing and resources re-
distribution etc. The author added that resolving these issues will not only
ensure political stability but stimulate healthy fiscal competition among
regions or states. The author proffered compliance to the rule of law and
constitutionalism, devolution and decentralisation of powers to states or
regions as envisaged by the country’s founding fathers as the best ways
towards desire national integration.
Keywords: Federalism, Minority Problems, National Question, State-
Creation and Sovereign National Conference
Introduction
Nigeria is a product of British colonial creation that was established out of
sheer necessity. It is generally believed that the country‟s population is more
than 170million with over 250 ethnic groups unevenly distributed over a
national territory of 923770sq.km comprising 36 states and Abuja. “Nigeria
1 Department of Political Science, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Federal
University Kashere, P.M.B 0182, Gombe - State. [email protected]
08030623394
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has been established by necessity and remains by choice a federal state”
(UNCED, 1992). However, since it became a sovereign state more than five
decades ago, the country‟s democracy has remained fragile, with centripetal
and centrifugal forces exerting their pressure on the polity for the control of
the nation‟s resources. At 56 years of nationhood, the country is still facing
multiple crises ranging from economic, political, insurgency, corruption,
militancy in the Niger Delta area, resource re-distribution, high rate of
unemployment and insurgency and militancy. It was these challenges that
eminent Jurist Akinola Aguda in October (2000:26) lamented, one thing is
certain the present edifice called Nigeria as we know it today has come nearly
to the end of its life. The cracks on the walls are too great for the edifice to
continue to stand.
Basically, the colonial origins and the foundation of Nigerian federalism are
two fundamental factors critical to understanding the challenges associated
with Nigerian federalism and origin of National Question. The British
introduced divide and rule politics in Nigeria and thus refused to build on
organised structure of pre-colonial Nigerian setting, Dimo (2001) asserted:
Colonial administration, directly and indirectly Institutionalised
Socio- political conflicts between the different Ethnic groups and
between the different religious groups. Ethnocentrism, parochialism
and sectionalism were bequeathed to the Nigerian people through
the Introduction of discriminating policies by the colonial master.
Moreover, parts of the National question in Nigeria today are political
struggles for the control of the centre between the North and the South, which
predated January 1914 amalgamation. Perhaps, these enormous challenges
were the reason why prominent political actor described it a “mistake of
1914” (Bello, 1962). The contentions of the National question in Nigeria were
set of unresolved issues facing the country since her nationhood. This paper
therefore attempts a critical analysis of the meaning, component and the
dimension of Nigerian National question. It further examined the challenges
as it affects the stability of the country and democratic consolidation. Finally,
some efforts that hopefully, would assist in finding solutions to the challenges
are suggested and the concluding remark follows
Scope of work The scope of this work covered pre-colonial period, colonial and post-
independent period of the present thirty- six (36) states structured system. The
research paper covered various fundamental problems confronting Nigerian
centralised federal system and the consequential effect of National question as
the search of National cohesion continues.
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Conceptual analysis
The term federalism is derived from the latin word, (foedus) meaning pact or
agreement. Fundamentally, federation is not like a confederation where a
member can pull out of the union when dissatisfied. Simply put, federation is
a permanent union and it is illegal for a unit to secede, withdraw or threaten to
withdraw from the union unless there is a written agreement to do otherwise
in future. Livingston (1952:81-95) asserted;” the essence of federalism lies not
in the institutional or constitutional structure but in the society itself”.
However, federalism as a concept has various definitions and meanings.
Wheare (1964:112) added; … Any definition of federal, government which
fails to include the United States of America would therefore be condemned
as unreal…for the federal principle has come to mean what it does because
United States has come to be what it is.
A federation is established when there is a treaty or mutual agreement
between dependent states and the new unit of government, which they agree
to, create. According to Kapour (2011:377), a states is, thus, created to which
the hitherto sovereign States surrender this Sovereignty and agree to become
its component parts, Known by different Names-States in the United States,
Australia and Indian Provinces, Canada and Pakistan, Cantons in Switzerland,
Union Republics in the erstwhile Soviet Union and the Lands (Lander) in the
former German Federal Republic in different federal states.
Federalism is about how the various units that form the federation are
autonomous and enjoying some measure of independent and self governing
without any distraction from the centre. The ideology is anchored on a balance
arrangement between unitary and confederation. It is against this background
that federalism offered the best way of accommodating multi-ethnic and
pluralistic nature of Nigerian federation. Perhaps, Nigeria, Malaysia, Indian
are the only countries in the world where a federation has survived the early
years of decolonisation period in any recognisable form. In these countries,
however, “the federal principle had to operate under severe strains, and it has
assumed a highly centralised form” (May hood, 1984). Federalism as a system
of government was best suitable for the process of building political unity
within a diverse multi-ethnic, cultural and different background. In fact,
federalism by nature is meant to strengthen the component units and enable
them to be centre of development. But the Nigerian type of federalism dictates
the reverse. Fundamentally, the idea in power sharing among the federating
units is to strike harmonious balance between the centrifugal force of the units
and centripetal forces of the centre” Udenwa, (Daily independent December
21, 2005:88)
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Theoretical analysis
Cultural pluralism theory was adopted to analyse and explain Nigerian
political system before colonisation, colonial period and wide ranging issues
that ensued immediately after independent. Among other theories like
modernisation, dependency, neo-Marxist etc, cultural pluralism model remain
the best approach to discuss the fundamental problems confronting Nigerian
federation which arose as a result of Lord Lugard amalgamation and various
decolonisation policies, economic and diverse ethnic groups vying for control
and domination in Nigeria. The approach explains the multi-cultural and
people with different background and orientations that were forcefully
brought together under a centralised political system. The development has
turned the peaceful existing relationship into intense competition for state
resources among the dominant ethnic groups.
The theory emphasises the ever continuing aggressiveness and competition
among various cultural groups in the country (Ezera, 1964). This approach in
terms of political life better explain how African countries and Nigeria in
Particular organised by the desire of various ethnic groups to further and
protect their ethnic domain with selfish motive. Thus, the attitude of behavior
of people in power today is influenced by particularistic considerations. This
creates a tug- of- war in a political arena and the intensity of conflicts based
on particularistic claims ultimately leads to situation of instability
(Mackintosh, 1966). Arguably, this theory has been criticised for being static
and a historical yet; it has remained the best model to explain the past and
contemporary Nigerian‟s problems and African instability in general.
The term National question is a multiple of questions relating to the common
belief and political well being of Nigerian-state. According to Ajayi (1992:14)
“the National question is the perennial debate as to how to order the relations
between the different ethnic, linguistic and Cultural grouping, so that they
have the same privileges, access to power and equitable share of national
cake”. Thus, national question relates to the problem of integrating people
with different ethnic and cultural background that formed a federation to
accept value of consensus and harmonious relationship that are very
instrumental to the social economic well being In another view, National
Question involves “the challenges and dilemmas associated with
accommodating multiple identity communities with the framework of a single
integrated National political system” (Suberu, 2002).
National question in Nigeria arose from the inherent contradictions of
Nigerian federalism and by extension the failure of political class to evolve
effective mechanism for managing the national question which led to
unimaginable crises for decades. Admittedly, various past governments had
put in place various policies aimed at tackling the worst manifestation of
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National question since the end of the civil war but Nigerians particularly the
elites have failed to act in the spirit of those policies. National question is
about justice and the rule of law and absence of these two fundamental facts
will resort to high degree of impunity, unrest and development of ethnic
nationalism. These had been the situation since Nigeria returned to democratic
rule in 1999. The crises had been from sharia crisis, resource control to
economic recession and insurgency. There is no doubt that the current
challenges facing the nation today were due to inability of the past leaders to
tackle the fundamental issues inherent in national question. This day,
everyone is now conscious about primordial ethnic groups before thinking of
Nigeria as a Nation. The resultant effect was the emergence of militant and
ethnic groups like Arewa, Afenifere and Ohaneze indigbo/ to promote their
sectional and ethnic ideology.
Evolution of Nigerian Federalism and the Emergence of National question
The birth of Nigeria was coincided with the beginning of legitimate trade
towards end of the nineteenth century. The 1884 /85 Berlin conference where
African were partition among Europeans power set the stage for colonisation
of the area known as Nigeria. After series of pacification, conquest and
subjugations, the British imperialist firmly entrenched their control over the
inland river valleys and surrounding areas with the charter of the Royal Niger
Company in 1899-1900. Thus, in 1900, Britain formally took over the control
of the three protectorates; the colony of Lagos, the Niger coast protectorate
and the Royal Niger Company‟s territories. Moreover, “these areas continued
to be administered differently and separately by Britain until 1906 when they
were redrawn into Northern and Southern protectorate” Uzoigwe (1961:1).
The amalgamation has remained a contentious issue in the political history of
Nigeria as both the Northern and the Southern regions manifested the
attributes of two cities. This was the beginning of country‟s challenges.
Arguing this position, Joshua (2000:76) posited; Institutionally,
administratively, traditionally, cultural and Developmental Nigeria remained
fragmented; the amalgamation debacle seems to be starting for a hardening of
north/south perception. The perceptions often Prejudice of Northern British
administrators, were to evolve in the year Independence into ethnic
chauvinism and allow the politics of ethnicity to dominate the creation and
formative years of independent Nigeria.
Notwithstanding, the obvious flaws of the amalgamation, Nigeria officially
came into existence on January 1, 1914. The unification of these two entities
was not for unity purpose but to ensured increase efficiency and uniformity in
the administrative process. In fact, the antagonistic duality and divisibility
which arose as result of the unholy alliance were deeply rooted in Nigeria
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system that chief Awolowo “saw the two parts as divergently and almost
irreconcilably oriented” (Awolowo, 1968).
Consequently, as Lord Lugard run the two protectorates separately, he also
ensured that each province enjoys separate measure of identity and autonomy.
According to Tarka (1996) “when the legislative council allowed for native
Nigerian participation in 1922, the North was not represented on it”. It‟s not
contestable that the amalgamation policy marked a turning point in the
evolution of Nigerian- state as monumental crises facing Nigeria today were
as a result of the bad legacies inherited from colonial master .This was
coupled with the division of Southern Province (East and West) by Sir
Bernard Boundillon in 1939 which eventually marked the beginning of
structural imperfection in Nigerian federal system. The aftermath of regional
structure in 1946 gave Nigeria a federation status in 1954 after her adoption of
federal constitution. Invariably, it was turned to federation that was continued
“to be hunted by the twin forces of regional imbalance and the quest for
sectional security,” (Crowder, 1996). The emergence of regionalism opens the
gateway for sectional sentiments and loyalty. This according to Osaghae
(1989:443) was “built on the bogus theory of regionalism, that is one should
be loyal to and protect the interest of one‟s region to exclusion of others”. In
effect, policy of regionalism according to Ogunjemite (1987:226) “created
disunity by reducing the country into a tri-national state”.
Nowadays, national question has taken a new dimension for controlling the
government at the centre as political elites have discover that political power
remain the best option to have access to nation‟s treasury. The multiplier
effect of this is subsidy scam, Dansukigate and unremitted billions of dollars
to the federation account and other fraudulent practices. It needs emphasis
that national question manifest itself during and after colonial rule and “in
terms of contradictions between Nigerian and imperialism; and between the
Northern and the Southern part of the country, and between the three major
ethnic Nationalities” (Mustapha, 1986).
Presently, dominant tribes and ethnic groups seem not satisfied with
accumulated resources at their disposal. Similarly, the political elites could
hardly trust each other as Nigerian state was confronted with series of
unimaginable crises. Nigerian Political classes are preoccupied with hostile
competition for resources among themselves. These problems were
compounded by military incursion to Nigerian polity in early years of
independent. The development marked a new dimension in the history of
Nigerian federalism as the intervention impacted negatively on Nigerian
federal structure. It is instructive to note that the decades of military rule and
its attendant consequences aggravated the challenges of post-colonial Nigeria
thereby worsening the crisis of national integration. Obviously and today, the
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Nigerian federation violated and negated in totality all essential principles for
a successful federation as the structural imbalance of colonial days still remain
at large. Ethnic factor and effect of military rule in our national politics have
contributed to the deepening ethnic cleavages we have today in Nigeria. These
inherent contradictions in Nigerian federal structure and its attendant
consequences had propelled series of tinkering and panel biting to enforce
National unity in the face of obvious challenges.
The National Question
States creation
There is no doubt that national question has had a greater impact on the
structure of Nigerian federalism. One of the effects has been a constant
agitation for state creation. In fact, the first generation of military rulers in
Nigeria from 1966-1979 rose up to these challenges by transforming the
country‟s deeply flawed and ethno-regional federal structure into a relative
more relaxed federal system. Consequently, the „legitimacy crisis‟ that
surrounded Lt. later Gen.Yakubu Gowon emergence in July 1966 and
opposition to his Government by Lt Colonel Ojukwu, made it a matter of
urgency and necessity for the division of the country into twelve states in
1967.Thus, in October 1970, while reflecting on the twelve-state structures he
had created in 1967, Gowon said: “I am satisfied that the twelve states
structure has , in fact produced a basis for political stability in that the
structural imbalance of the first republic has been decisively corrected”
Gowon (New Nigerian, October2,1970). This was supported by Ayida
(1986:102) that „the most sensitive potential threat to the stability of the
Nigerian federation was a…North-South confrontation, and it was of strategic
importance that the number of “Northern” parts of the country should be seen
to be equal to the number of “Southern” states. However, Murtala/Obasanjo
states creation in 1976 after overthrown Gowon from power and the
subsequent creation of states in 1991 and 1996 by successive Military
administrations violated and betrayed the general understanding that equality
should be maintained between the North and the south.
Thus, the effect of states creation and indeed the current thirty six states
structures in Nigeria has been hyper-centralisation of the intergovernmental
relation since “the greater the number of states the weaker and less viable
individual states will become with the direct consequences that the centre
would actually gather more power” Diamond (1987). Today, it is clearly
evident that state creation has not produce accelerated development but rather
another way of rewarding major ethnic groups in the country. In the view of
Editorial comment from Guardian “the states structure should be de-
emphasised especially by merging the existing ones to form regional blocks
(The Guardian 24 February, 1994). State creation and reorganisation has
admittedly corrected the structural imbalance of post independence. But
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arguably, it has not completely and irrevocably assaulted the so called
“Northern domination, since the pattern of horizontal cooperation and
collaboration among the states and their government remains largely rooted in
ethnicity” (Akindele, 1996).
Over centralisation of power and resources in the central government
Over centralisation of power and resources in the central government
Centralisation of resources in the central government has remained a debate
among various scholars over the continued retention of the largest share of
nation‟s resources by the central government. The frequent take-over of
government by the military in the past years had worsened the problem. The
heavy concentration of fiscal power and resources in the central government
was partly responsible for unhealthy inter-ethnic, states and Regional tension
in the country. The grants-in-aids and other special allocation like bail-out
from the federal to states government has turned states to appendages of the
central Government. This in effect had ensured malfunctioning of the units of
Government, corruption and abuse of office in high places.
The raging crisis in the Niger Delta is one of the effects of over centralisation
of power which was occasioned by failure to adhere strictly to true federalism.
It was on this development that Akinyele (1996: 90) lamented; “the federal
control of the lion share of the national resources had also encouraged extra
budgetary spending which promote corruption and inefficiency in the
services”. Similarly, this centralising trend had equally produced intensive
conflicts and contradiction in various forms. These includes fiscal hegemony
of the central government in relation to subordinates unit, seizure and
unnecessary withholding of allocation by the federal government, limited
compensation for environmental pollution in oil producing community of
Niger Delta which had in effect produced unwarranted crises .Ironically, the
various successive governments have failed in their constitutional
responsibility to effect the needed fundamental changes to fiscal federalism in
Nigeria.
Corruption and its impact on economy
This is daunting problem facing Nigeria today. Corruption is one of the
obstacles confronting the growth and economic development of Nigeria. The
recent agitation from Igbo youths in Eastern part of the country for autonomy,
Boko-Haram crisis in North-Eastern part of the country and renewed
militancy in South-South region of oil rich Niger Delta are consequences of
bad leadership, corruption, high rate of unemployment and economic
meltdown. The country‟s economy is currently facing severe strain which
require drastic measure to save it from its steady deterioration. Virtually all
aspect of Nigerian- State has been badly hit by the harsh economy. The
looting, stealing and all forms of business vandalism that currently pervade
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the country have worsened the economy. The country‟s democracy is now
confronted with institutionalised form of corruption and other social vices.
According to Ibrahim (2001: 83) Nigerian state has been transformed into a
patrimonial and one in which those who are in control of state power and
strategic bureaucratic offices use their positions for private appropriation.
However, the ongoing trials of some high profile cases in the country for
corruption had attested to the fact that Nigerian state has become a weak
edifice eroded in corruption (Lame, 2001). Basically, the current leadership of
President Buhari has taken up the fight to attacking and curtails the spread of
corruption with the reformation of Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (E.F.C.C) and Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related
Offences (ICPC) in conjunction with other security agencies. But it‟s yet to be
seen how far the administration would go because of the lukewarm attitude of
the political class and some political elites who see the fight against corruption
as political persecution and vendetta.
National Security
This is another major issue thrown up by national question crisis in Nigerian
federalism. The National insecurity in Nigeria has manifested in various forms
in the past, these ranges from political killings, religious violence, armed
robbery and kidnapping. Presently, the threat declaration for Biafra autonomy
by Indigbo youths in the eastern region, militancy in the Niger Delta,
insurgency in the North-Eastern Nigeria and rampage Fulani headsmen attack
all remain National threat.
Nevertheless, economic crises, Fulani headsmen crises and Boko-Haram
(meaning that western education is forbidden) are now daunting security
problems confronting the nation. The group was formed in 2002 with Yusuf
Mohammed as the leader. Their initial aim was to propagate Islamic teaching
and opposed western ideology but later intensify to establish Islamic Caliphate
in the North- Eastern axis of the country. Consequently, the group changed
violently in 2009 when its leader was executed. As a result of this, many lives
have been lost. Report by the “Amnesty International shows that over 17,000
mostly civilians had been killed since 2009 while at least 2,000 women and
girls have been abducted since the start of 2014” Okobi (Tell November 2,
2015:24).
Related to this was the abduction of secondary school girls who were between
16 and 17 years old in Chibok, Bornu-State on April 14, 2014 by this militant
group. From January 2017 to date, hundreds of lives have been lost including
Security agents while thousands are still being camped in various internal
displaced centers (IDC) across Yobe, Bornu-state and its environs. Though,
security forces had weakened their strength and recovered lost territories but
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still pose serious threat to peace and national security. National security is a
global concern, as it can be a threat from neighboring countries. In Nigeria
today, poverty, diseases, hunger, insecurity, frustration, unemployment,
infrastructural decay and above all, corruptions and economic melt-down are
non-conventional threats which have become part of National security.
Problems of Ethnic Minorities
Minority problems remain one of the recurring issues in the country national
question. The current travails of ethnic minorities have been shaped by
happenings in the country‟s recent and distant past. This is coupled with the
changes in the internal territorial configuration of the Country.
Fundamentally, the root cause of minority problems could be traced to the
“transformation of the three culturally and ethnically artificial administrative
regions of west, East and North in 1939 into fully autonomous units of a
federal polity in 1954” (Saro-Wiwa, 1992). The Willink commission set up in
1959 and other subsequent panelist to look into their fears and allayed it could
not mitigate their challenges. In fact, “the magnitude of Nigeria‟s ethnic
diversity has been presented by numerous scholars” (Sand, 1979). To
Onuwejeogwu; Nigerian is suffering from “hyper ethnic instability
syndrome”. And has moved further with observable data analysis for different
Nationalities to showcase his argument that:
Russia has about 27 ethnic groups and Indian have more than
40; France about eight; Germany about 15.The only place in the
World that has over 300 ethnic groups is Nigeria. This
uniqueness Create unique problems unknown to the experience
of other peoples Of the World. No western or eastern civilisation
has ever evolved a Political system that can cope with ethnic
instability syndrome (Onwuejeogwu, 1987).
Moreover, the military interregnum in 1966 and the overall effect of states
creation exercise by the military administration from 1967 to 1996 was
according to Baker (1994:16) “had an enormous impact on the federal
structure leaving a legacy of unprecedented dependence from which the states
have not yet recover”. This was also corroborated by Ken Saro-Wiwa
(1992:37) “that homogenous majority have been sub-divided into several
federally found states while many of the minorities have been corralled into
unitary…multi- ethnic states”. Today, many of the ethnic minorities states
have become theatre of inter ethnic clashes and communal strife. Similarly,
today the activities of rampaging Fulani herdsmen have changed the
dimension of the challenges confronting ethnic minorities in Nigerian
federation. The crises between Fulani herdsmen and their host states in
various parts of the country particularly Agatu massacre by Fulani herdsmen
in Benue state and now Southern Kaduna carnage better explain the problems
of ethnic minorities. Similarly, the failure of the successive governments to
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give priority to ethnic minorities‟ problems particularly the Ogonis in the
Niger Delta area has been code-named as “Minority Question”. This had
resulted to militancy and constant destruction of oil pipelines.
In the past years, the initial peaceful protest and which later snowballed to
violent protest by the Ogonis against environmental annihilation and
degradation by the oil companies were resisted by the then military junta (late
Abacha). The aftermath was the hanging of Ken Saro-Wiwa and his associate
in 1995.The gruesome murder was widely condemned locally and
internationally. Suberu (1996:82) lamented; „the Ogonis execution
underscored the tragic limitations and contradictions of the contemporary
Nigerian practices of federalism‟. This day, major tribes and minorities
perceived Nigerian federation to be oppressive and illegitimate political
association that needs to be restructured. It‟s argued, if the aggrieved tribes
including (minorities) have had the choice, they would have opted for
confederation or better still dissolution rather than continuing with the bogus
and defective federal system.
National Conference and Sovereign National Conference
The former presidents, Obasanjo and Jonathan administration had set up
National Conferences (NC) in the past with no end result while agitation for
Sovereign National Conference (SNC) was indeed more pronounced during
Abacha military dictator. The aims of these two conferences are to address
fundamental issues confronting Nigerian federation. It was of the view that
declined of democracy, the rise of ethnic Nationalities and collapse of the
economy are all germane issues that once again question Nigerian post-civil
war federal unity. It was retrogressive, after fifty-six years of political
independence; the country is without a constitution drafted by the people.
According to Ben Nwabueze (2001:24-25), deliberations on constitutional
conference would revolve around a consideration of three broad option
namely, a federal system greatly reduced power of the centre, a co federal
arrangement, completely breakup of the country.
The protagonist of Sovereign National Conference on the order hand viewed it
as the best hope of molding together people with different ethnic origins
cultures and languages, while antagonists view it a prelude to disintegration.
They argued that the established democratic structures put in place could still
accommodate any new innovation that might likely be introduced to country‟s
political arrangement. Today, the divergent views among stake holders have
made the implementation of National Conference difficult. Thus,
establishment of Sovereign National Conference is no longer realistic as
political classes are more committed to the spoils than to democratic ways of
political interaction. Nevertheless, the country has remained undivided since
the final collapsed of the Biafra Republic in 1970. However, true federalism
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remains the best political arrangement for Nigeria. And better still rigorous
reviewing of 1999 constitution which was the renew version of the 1979
constitution.
Conclusion
The paper has explained some major issues which constituted the National
question. And again, it has also examined some measures put in place to
ensure “unity in diversity” and to foster national cohesion. In a plural society,
federalism is no doubt about equality and justice. However, it was observed
that the proffered solutions to the problems facing the country have failed to
address the fundamental issues. Thus, state creation exercise and other
integrative mechanism have not mitigated the tension and disharmony that has
been threatening to dismember the federation. The country political problems
according to report “are not inherent in federalism” or ethnic pluralism, but
have resulted from the departure to practice true federalism” especially under
the centralising Military governments, Suberu (News watch 17 April, 2000:
23).
Recommendations In the light of this, there should be power devolution and decentralisation to
states or zones of the federation, where each of the zones should have some
measure of independent and autonomy for effective and productive federal
system. This was supported by Gen. Alani Akinrinade (rtd) (1998:49) that
“the apparatus built to maintain a monolithic and centralised state must be
dismantled, anything short of this is an invitation to another civil war in the
future”. Scholars and opinion have suggested if possible, merging and
redesign the present states together to form zones as it happened in the first
Republic. Significantly, appointment of Governor General is essential for each
zone for adequate representation at the centre instead of thirty six (36) federal
executives‟ council members. This would not only ensure national cohesion at
the centre but would also reduce cost of governance.
Moreover, it is imperative to enact laws that will prohibit North-South
affiliation which was engendered by federal Character principle; ensure rule
of law to consolidating the country‟s democracy through enactment of
constitution drafted by the people. Similarly, all ethnic Nationalities, religious
and cultural groups must be given equal opportunities to manage the affairs of
the Nation, and no ethnic groups should hold on to power endlessly or
dominate others. Attitudinal and unpatriotic attitude of the elite which has
made federalism a barren system in Nigerian must be corrected and checked.
The paper also call for patriotism and discipline leadership with commitment
to people oriented values and who can forge a sense of national cohesion
based on constitutionalism.
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In other words, total war on corruption must be intensify and embrace by all
in order to put an end to incessant mindless looting and mismanagement of
public fund. This was supported by Jeffery Herbst (1996:166) „unless the (rot)
of the economy is halted, there will no prospect for democracy in
Nigeria...and integrity of the nation-state‟. Fundamentally, for true federalism
to take root in Nigeria, each state or region must be given the constitutional
latitude to operate and develop at their own pace. This would foster and
strengthening the desired unity and national integration in Nigeria.
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