Federalism and Nation Building in Nigeria: The Challenges and the Way Forward

Abstract

Nations are an important part of modern society. As an integral part of the modern world, therefore, Nigerians are rightly concerned about nation-building. Nations do not happen by mere historical accident, rather, they are built by men and women with vision and resolve. Nation building is, therefore, the product of conscious state-craft, not happenstance. Nigeria’s efforts at nation-building started since independence to address issues that have predated 1960. The study observes that the Nigerian nation building endeavor is hampered by her historical antecedence, poor leadership, corruption, and contentious constitutional provisions. The argument of this study is that the creation of dependable institutions and a patriotic demonstration of politics will address the challenges of nation-building in Nigeria. The research recommended that the component states should come together to negotiate and dialogue freely and willingly on the nature of their coexistence; State and L.Gs should be given autonomy through a constitutional amendment because they are closer to people than the center of government; A new revenue sharing system should be proposed that would institute a balance between states and the federal government since fiscal federalism is a system which requires periodic reviews to take account of changes that are inevitable in a dynamic world. The method of the research is content analysis, which allows the use of the work of other scholars and documents from the government.