Professor Attahiru Jega on Nigerian Federalism

British colonial rule was largely sustained by divide and rule tactics and policies, which included the
manipulation of religious and ethnic differences, giving rise to

mutual fears and suspicions, which undermined the unity of purpose in the
struggle for independence and raised the profile of primordial identities over

Nigerian citizenship. Postcolonial rule, especially under a long period of military

rule, exacerbated these differences as successive military rulers further
manipulated ethnic and religious divides to sustain themselves in power, while
preaching national unity and integration, thereby heightening ethno-religious
tensions. The authoritarian disposition of military rulers led to the bottling up of

frustrations and anger, which only found manifest expression and exploded into
ethno-religious violence at the onset of the Fourth Republic, as illustrated by the

violent conflicts in Kaduna state, especially from 2000 to 2002. Since then,
violent ethno-religious conflicts, militancy, insurgency and other forms of
criminality have become recurrent features in the Nigerian political economy,
threatening harmonious intergroup relations and the effective management of
diversity in the Nigerian federal system. Real, and perceptions of, inequities and
injustices, especially on account of bad governance at state and federal levels,
have damaged, if not poisoned, intergroup and interstate relations in the Nigerian

federal arrangement. In the present circumstances, future stability, progress and

socioeconomic as well as democratic development of Nigeria seem conditional on

urgent desirable changes to address structural imbalances, inequities and bad

governance. These desired changes are variously referred to “restructuring” by a
range of advocates, activists and agitators often working at cross purposes. Efforts and energies need to
be devoted to generating an elite, if not a national,

consensus on the necessity of restructuring defined as the redistribution of power

and resources from the federal to state governments to be embarked upon before
2023.
The embedded imbalance, inequities and perceived injustices in the current
federal system in Nigeria have to be addressed as soon as possible to enable

Nigeria and Nigerians to acquire the requisite stability and peaceful coexistence
amenable to accelerated, sustainable socioeconomic development. The best

strategy for success is the pursuit of a systematic and an incremental positive

change through constitutional amendments in phases, commencing with a review

and sanitizing the Federal and Concurrent Legislative lists, and giving more
powers and resources to states complemented by other reform measures to nurture

and entrench good, democratic governance at all levels, from the federal to state

and local governments.