Restructuring the Nigerian Federation: Challenges and Prospects.
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Date
2025-07-23
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
The Abuja Management Review (AMR)
Abstract
The manifest of diversity and the need to have a strong economic system that would
foster desirable development necessitated the adoption of federal institutional
framework in Nigeria. This structural technique of governance has been a subject of
questioning in respect of its workability and self-sustenance. The call for restructuring
the Nigerian Federation has gained significant momentum in recent years. This study
desired to examine the distinct bases for continuous clamouring for restructuring of
the Nigerian Federation and touch-light the prospects of Nigerian state as a federal
political system. Guided with the principle of qualitative research, this study found that
there is lack of common understanding and belief in ‘federal framework’ among
various ethnic groups that made up the country. This missing orientation driven by:
unequal power-sharing formula that failed to deliver adequate result, feelings of
marginalization by some regions, failure to manage revenue allocation processes for
the betterment of the country, significant multi-ethnic population which makes it
vulnerable to secession threats, unclearly defined the roles and responsibilities of the
state government which generates unhealthy competition and conflict. This study
discovered that there is a prospect in Nigerian federal system. That is the system is
capable of being rejuvenated through effective decentralization. This study
recommends that, Political leadership should summon courage and make needful
scarify (reconfigure the system and decentralize power) while caution must be
exercised in the course of restructuring, because an extremely weak central with super
constituent units is vulnerable to instability.