Nigerian federalism was neither accidental nor arbitrary
Nigeria’s adoption of federalism in the run-up to our independence in 1960 was not an accidental or arbitrary choice! I can expand and generalize that statement and say that nations do not choose federal, confederal or unitary constitutional systems and/or structures arbitrarily! Those choices are made on the basis of factors residing in history, demography, culture, anthropology, sociology, religion, politics or other considerations!
Professor TekenaTamuno notes in the article “Nigerian Federalism in Historical Perspective” published in “Federalism and Political Restructuring in Nigeria” edited by Amuwo, Agbaje, Suberu and Herault that federalism “…is that form of government where the component units of a political organization participate in sharing powers and functions in a cooperative manner though the combined forces of ethnic pluralism and cultural diversity, amongst others, tend to pull their people apart. Delicate arrangements of this kind, where carefully worked out, provide sufficient room for the co-existence of centre-seeking and centre-fleeing forces”. In the context of Nigeria’s complicated journey towards independence with a Northern region that was wary of being swallowed up by the more advanced South, and intense competition between the two dominant Southern regions both fearing the other gaining the upper hand, as well as significant minorities in each of the three regions, federalism was our only practical option!
In “Foundations of Nigerian Federalism: Pre-Colonial Antecedents” edited by J. IsawaElaigwu and Erim O Erim, Professor Erim writing on “Pre-Colonial Antecedents of the Foundations of the Nigerian Federation: Theoretical Considerations” posits likely pre-disposing factors behind Nigeria’s adoption of federalism, “…Nigeria’s primordial features of indigenous society which the British conquered each kingdom, state, empire, republic separately and negotiated separate treaties with each made a federal or confederal system inevitable…federalism as a compromise solution worked out among Nigeria’s elites in order to ensure that the country earned its political independence when it did…the late Chief Awolowo agreed that in the final analysis, Nigeria showed a preference for federalism when faced with the choice between federalism and unitarism…some scholars have paid more attention to the theoretical aspects of the subject by pointing to other factors, both centrifugal and centripetal all of which predispose any country to federalism”
According to Wheare quoted by Erim, a federation will be adopted if the people in the constituent units “desire to be under single independent government for some purposes…and desire at the same time to retain or to establish independent regional government in some matters”. Friedrich describes a federation as “…a union of group selves, united by one or more common objectives but retaining their distinctive group-being for other purposes…it unites without destroying the selves that are uniting, and is meant to strengthen them in their mature relations…” Erim also summarises the position of several scholars-Sidgwick, Freeman, Seeley and Dicey who describe a federal state as “…a whole made up of parts politically coordinate and constitutionally separate, the essential principle shaping every part of the system being the distribution of limited executive, legislative and judicial authority among the bodies each independent of the other.” Finally Livingston wrote that “federalism arises out of, and expressed in a daily plebiscite, the desire of the constituent communities to place themselves under a single government in certain matters but in others to reserve independence, self-government and the freedom to experiment and protect their individuality”
There are several implications of all the above. First, Nigerian independence and national unity could never have been possible at independence except a federal system was agreed. Second, all Nigerian ethnic groups, nations and regions agreed on the federal option. Third, it was INCONCEIVABLE that Nigeria could have adopted a unitary system at independence. The Northern Region would have been and indeed was most vocal in rejecting a unitary system and indeed reacted violently when Ironsi toyed with unitarism in 1966! Fourth, federalism allows diverse people to live in peace and unity without destroying their independent identities and control over local matters. It is in fact the attempt to impose a unitary system on diverse people as a pathway to establishing a narrow hegemony over them that threatens to sub-optimize and destroy Nigeria.
Fifth, there can be no good motive behind any attempt to impose a de facto or de jure unitary system on Nigeria. Nigerian history suggests very strongly that ethnic groups might only support unitarism when they hold federal power and hope to thereby entrench hegemony and dominion over other ethnic groups, a process that is guaranteed to end in under-development and crisis, as it has indeed done in Nigeria since the end of the civil war! Sixth, even today, unitary systems are unworkable in Nigeria if only you spend a few minutes to think properly about it! I guarantee that if a Southerner or Middle-Belt politician became president and took control of Nigeria’s pseudo-unitary administration, the loudest protests and riots will emerge from Northern Nigeria’s Hausa-Fulani and Kanuri Muslims!That is why Boko Haram and the Northern Muslim Sharia agitation happened while Obasanjo was president!!!
KunleAmuwo and Georges Herault point out in their paper, “On the Notion of Political Restructuring in Federal Systems” included in “Federalism and Political Restructuring in Nigeria” earlier referred to that “…federalism’s minimalist promissory note to permit nations and peoples forming the union, their own nationalism and self-determination is more easily endangered in a non-democratic federal system than in a democratic federal polity”-it was also not a coincidence that the subversion of Nigerian federalism and the deliberate attempt to convert our freely negotiated federal constitution into a de facto unitary system happened under military rule! Indeed the same authors refer to K C Wheare who famously noted that “democracy is a condition of federalism” i.e. it is difficult to maintain the delicate balance and restraints on arbitrary power that federalism requires in a military, fascist or other totalitarian or undemocratic system.
The converse of the above (which is a serious warning to democrats in Nigeria) is that the subversion of federalism in Nigeria, if permitted to subsist will lead inexorably to the subversion of democracy itself and ultimately our freedoms and rights as free people!
*This article is the second in a three-part series on the Yoruba nation and the Quest to re-establish Federalism in Nigeria.
Opeyemi Agbaje