Nigeria: Strategic Political Transformation of Abia State

31 March 2013
opinion

When a comparision is made between the application of federalism in Nigeria and other democratic climes, it becomes very clear that Nigeria's style of federalism is just unique. As it is known the world over, a federal system of government allows the federating units within the polity to be in charge of their natural and human resources. In such a situation, the states that make up the federation strive to explore and exploit their natural resources to the fullest for the maximum wellbeing of their citizens.

They, however, pay royalties to the central government for the sustenance and growth of the system. This was the situation under the 1963 Republican Constitution of Nigeria. The uniqueness of the Nigerian style of federalism stems from the abnormality that unlike how federalism should be practised, as was the case in 1963, the federal government, through the instrumentality of military dictatorship, took over control of basically all the resources located in the states, including land and sea. Hence we have exclusive legislation governing those resources in Nigeria.

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