Restructuring: A Catholicon for the Stability of Nigerian Federalism

Abstract:

Nigeria has, over the last three decades, observed threats to its corporate existence as a federation due to the dissatisfaction of the various ethnic nationalities. This dissatisfaction has necessitated the growth of ethnic and micro-nationalistic groups requesting that the country be restructured. Hence the clamour for “restructuring” is high more than ever in the country, with the different ethnic groups advocating for one form of restructuring of the other; while others are threatening to secede from the union. Successive governments have made efforts to pacify the different ethnic nationalities to keep fate with the Nigerian federation with little success, as the agitations for restructuring and threats to disintegrate remain all times high. Consequently, there is strong political rivalry, among the different ethnic groups, which has substantially created political instability in the nation. Thus, the main objective of this paper is to demonstrate that genuine and sincere restructuring of the Nigerian State will to a large extent dowse the threats to Nigerian federalism. The study adopted the Cooperative Federalism strand of the Modern Approach of Federalism, which is anchored on cooperation and interdependence among component units of governments, to explain the necessity for restructuring the Nigerian State. The study used mainly secondary data related to federalism, restructuring and political stability. The study revealed that there has not been a sincere effort at restructuring the Nigerian State since the collapse of the First Republic through a coup d’état, which to a large extent made the country operate as a unitary state and this has fueled ethnic rivalry as well as underdevelopment in the country. The paper concluded that for Nigerian federalism to be substantially free from stress and strains there must be a concerted effort at sincerely restructuring the polity. The study recommended among other things, that government should expedite action to restructure the Nigerian State, engage the dissatisfied and agitating groups clamouring for self-determination, grant greater autonomy to the sub-units, and allow the states to explore and exploit mineral resources in their domain for maximum productivity and development.