Nigerians embraced federalism as a way of managing the conflicts and suspicions among the various constituent nationalities that make up the Nigerian state. These fears and suspicions had led to the emergence of aggressive political and economic competitions along ethno-regional lines. Beginning from 1954, the unitary colonial state saw itself being gradually federalized as it had to contend with powerful ethno-regional pressures in the run-up to independence in 1960. Following the military coup of 1966, which ushered in a prolonged period of military rule, the various military regimes created a very centralized federal system while they ruled. By 1999 however, Nigerians had become disenchanted with the way the federal system was operated in the country, with echoes of the strident calls for a national conference to re-assess the system and the way it was operated reverberating throughout the entire length and breadth of the country.

Twenty essays by four generations of Nigerian scholars are included in this volume, the first to examine the historical, political, economic and comparative dimensions of attempts by the military to restructure the Nigerian federation. Evidence is accumulated in support of the book's central thesis that autocratic rule is antipathetic to the sustenance of genuine federal practice, and that federal restructuring initiated under the tight control of repressive governments cannot but lead to a situation in which federalism is assaulted, if not dismantled. It is argued that, in such a context, the vending of a federal doctrine becomes more or less an exercise in the propagation of false consciousness in the service of power - portraying a picture of divided power to hide the reality of undivided power.

FOREWORD by Larry Diamond

This book uses the political economy approach to examine the relative failure of federalism in Nigeria. It shows the nexus between the political and the economic aspects of the country’s federalism. The central feature of Nigeria’s political economy is the relationship between oil resources and the state. The author argues that the inability of the federal government to distribute the oil wealth fairly amongst the component units contributes to the dysfunctional character of the federal system. This deficiency is rooted in the country’s unbalanced political economy, which promotes over-dependency on oil and consequently an over-centralised federal system. The book concludes that despite its complexities, federalism has become the basis for the country’s stability. Therefore, ethno-regional demands for ‘true federalism’ will continue until the political elite reform the ailing federal system.

Taking Nigeria as a case study, this book examines how the various issues involved in fiscal federalism in a developing country are handled.

Nigerian Federalism: Continuing Quest for Stability and Nation-Building explores the nature of and the debate over a number of recurrent issues, such as the “origins of Nigerian federalism, the number of state units in the federal system, fiscal issues, political parties, distributional issues, and intergovernmental relations” in Nigerian federalism since the establishment of protofederalism under the Richards Constitution, 1946 seventy years ago. In exploring the issues, the book seeks to answer the question, “what accounts for the persistence of Nigerian federalism, despite the serious discontents that the debate throws up now and again?” The book offers a reinterpretation, which argues that the demand for true federalism, which anchors the major trend in the age-long debate on the structure of Nigerian federalism, is ahistorical and therefore static. The book uniquely emphasises the need to periodise the practice of Nigerian federalism into four major phases. Based on the periodisation, two cardinal propositions emerge from the various chapters of the book. First, in spite of separatist and centrifugal threats to its existence, Nigerian federalism has typically never sought to eliminate diversity, but to manage it. In this sense, the construction of Nigeria’s federal system from its earliest beginnings shows clearly that it is both a creature of diversity and an understanding that diversity will remain ingrained in its DNA. Secondly, Nigeria’s federal practice has not sought to mirror any model of “true federalism”, be it in the United States, Canada or elsewhere. Instead, Nigeria’s federal system has been a homegrown, if unstable modulation between foedus and separatus, a constantly negotiated terrain among centripetal and centrifugal forces and between centralisation and decentralisation. Consequently, a historical, periodised understanding of Nigerian federalism is inevitably essential. It is this historical and theoretical-methodological approach to explaining and understanding Nigerian federalism that gives the book its unique character. The book is for the general reader as well as for students, including researchers of Nigerian federalism and of Nigerian constitutional and political development, policymakers, and political parties.

An introduction to the politics and society of post-colonial Nigeria, highlighting the key themes of ethnicity, democracy, and development.

In 1966, a soft-spoken 32-year old man emerged from relative obscurity and humble background to become Nigeria's Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. His name was Lt Col (later General)Yakubu Gowon. He emerged as the compromise candidate following the political crisis that engulfed the country after the July 1966 military coup that had led to the assassination of the country's first military Head of State, General Aguiyi Ironsi. At the end of the Civil War in 1970, General Gowon's doctrine of 'No Victor No Vanquished' greatly endeared him to many, and he was variously dubbed 'Abraham Lincoln of Nigeria', 'a soft spoken but dynamic leader' 'a real gentleman' and 'an almost faultless administrator'. However, after he was overthrown in a military coup in July 1975, long knives were drawn out for him, with the hitherto friendly press and public crying 'crucify him', and now variously vilifying him as 'weak' and of managing a purposeless administration that had led to the 'drifting' of the nation. In this book Professor J. Isawa Elaigwu attempts a scholarly political biography of someone he believes has rendered great ser-vices to the Nigerian nation despite his weaknesses as a leader. He rejects the notion that Gowon's nine years in office were 'nine years of failure' as the General's ardent critics posit, arguing that if it is possible to identify a number of thresholds in his administration, it is also possible to identify the approxi-mate point in time when the strains of his administration became visible to observers and the public in general. He poses and methodically seeks answers to a number of fundamental questions: Who was Yakubu Gowon? Why and how was the reservoir of goodwill and credibility which he had accumulated by the end of the Civil War expended? What image of Nigeria did he have when he came into power? And did he ever achieve his objectives? The book, first published in 1986, has been revised and expanded for this edition ____________________________________ Dr. J. Isawa Elaigwu is Professor Emeritus of Political Science, University of Jos, Jos, Nigeria. He is currently the President of the Institute of Governance and Social Research (IGSR), Jos, Nigeria. A widely travelled academic, Professor Elaigwu's works have been widely published within and outside Nigeria. He has also served as a consultant to many national and international agencies.