Download Free The Politics Of Federalism In Nigeria Book in PDF and EPUB Free Download. You can read online The Politics Of Federalism In Nigeria and write the review.

Nigerians embraced federalism as a way of managing the conflicts and suspicions among the various constituent nationalities that make up the Nigerian state. These fears and suspicions had led to the emergence of aggressive political and economic competitions along ethno-regional lines. Beginning from 1954, the unitary colonial state saw itself being gradually federalized as it had to contend with powerful ethno-regional pressures in the run-up to independence in 1960. Following the military coup of 1966, which ushered in a prolonged period of military rule, the various military regimes created a very centralized federal system while they ruled. By 1999 however, Nigerians had become disenchanted with the way the federal system was operated in the country, with echoes of the strident calls for a national conference to re-assess the system and the way it was operated reverberating throughout the entire length and breadth of the country.
Twenty essays by four generations of Nigerian scholars are included in this volume, the first to examine the historical, political, economic and comparative dimensions of attempts by the military to restructure the Nigerian federation. Evidence is accumulated in support of the book's central thesis that autocratic rule is antipathetic to the sustenance of genuine federal practice, and that federal restructuring initiated under the tight control of repressive governments cannot but lead to a situation in which federalism is assaulted, if not dismantled. It is argued that, in such a context, the vending of a federal doctrine becomes more or less an exercise in the propagation of false consciousness in the service of power - portraying a picture of divided power to hide the reality of undivided power.
FOREWORD by Larry Diamond
An introduction to the politics and society of post-colonial Nigeria, highlighting the key themes of ethnicity, democracy, and development.
Taking Nigeria as a case study, this book examines how the various issues involved in fiscal federalism in a developing country are handled.
This book analyzes the concept “true federalism” to examine whether there are definable dimensions of power-sharing that make ‘true federalism.’ The author takes a critical look at dimensions on political restructuring in Nigeria, which have been termed “true federalism.” The work fills a significant gap in the existing literature on the theory and practice of federalism. The project will be useful to the students and professors of African Studies, political science, Nigeria federalism, public administration and policy. Additionally, the monograph will be interesting to the general public who seek to know more about contemporary issues in Nigeria.
This book offers a comprehensive analysis of the evolutionary path of Nigeria's political development. Drawing from the historical themes that existed before and after independence, Kalu N. Kalu elucidates the challenging role of an oil-dependent economy in the struggle for control of state power in the face of political corruption, clientelism, and market failures.
This volume engages in an in-depth discussion of Nigerian politics. Written by an expert group of Nigerian researchers, the chapters provide an overarching, Afrocentric view of politics in Nigeria, from pre-colonial history to the current federal system. The book begins with a series of historical chapters analyzing the development of Nigeria from its traditional political institutions through the First Republic. After establishing the necessary historical context, the next few chapters shift the focus to specific political institutions and phenomena, including the National Assembly, local government and governance, party politics, and federalism. The remaining chapters discuss issues that continue to affect Nigerian politics: the debt crisis, oil politics in the Niger Delta, military intervention and civil-military relations, as well as nationalism and inter-group relations. Providing an overview of Nigerian politics that encompasses history, economics, and public administration, this volume will be useful to students and researchers interested in African politics, African studies, democracy, development, history, and legislative studies.
In 1966, a soft-spoken 32-year old man emerged from relative obscurity and humble background to become Nigeria's Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. His name was Lt Col (later General)Yakubu Gowon. He emerged as the compromise candidate following the political crisis that engulfed the country after the July 1966 military coup that had led to the assassination of the country's first military Head of State, General Aguiyi Ironsi. At the end of the Civil War in 1970, General Gowon's doctrine of 'No Victor No Vanquished' greatly endeared him to many, and he was variously dubbed 'Abraham Lincoln of Nigeria', 'a soft spoken but dynamic leader' 'a real gentleman' and 'an almost faultless administrator'. However, after he was overthrown in a military coup in July 1975, long knives were drawn out for him, with the hitherto friendly press and public crying 'crucify him', and now variously vilifying him as 'weak' and of managing a purposeless administration that had led to the 'drifting' of the nation. In this book Professor J. Isawa Elaigwu attempts a scholarly political biography of someone he believes has rendered great ser-vices to the Nigerian nation despite his weaknesses as a leader. He rejects the notion that Gowon's nine years in office were 'nine years of failure' as the General's ardent critics posit, arguing that if it is possible to identify a number of thresholds in his administration, it is also possible to identify the approxi-mate point in time when the strains of his administration became visible to observers and the public in general. He poses and methodically seeks answers to a number of fundamental questions: Who was Yakubu Gowon? Why and how was the reservoir of goodwill and credibility which he had accumulated by the end of the Civil War expended? What image of Nigeria did he have when he came into power? And did he ever achieve his objectives? The book, first published in 1986, has been revised and expanded for this edition ____________________________________ Dr. J. Isawa Elaigwu is Professor Emeritus of Political Science, University of Jos, Jos, Nigeria. He is currently the President of the Institute of Governance and Social Research (IGSR), Jos, Nigeria. A widely travelled academic, Professor Elaigwu's works have been widely published within and outside Nigeria. He has also served as a consultant to many national and international agencies.
"51 Imperfect Solutions told stories about specific state and federal individual constitutional rights, and explained two benefits of American federalism: how two sources of constitutional protection for liberty and property rights could be valuable to individual freedom and how the state courts could be useful laboratories of innovation when it comes to the development of national constitutional rights. This book tells the other half of the story. Instead of focusing on state constitutional individual rights, this book takes on state constitutional structure. Everything in law and politics, including individual rights, comes back to divisions of power and the evergreen question: Who decides? The goal of this book is to tell the structure side of the story and to identify the shifting balances of power revealed when one accounts for American constitutional law as opposed to just federal constitutional law. The book contains three main parts-on the judicial, executive, and legislative branches-as well as stand-alone chapters on home-rule issues raised by local governments and the benefits and burdens raised by the ease of amending state constitutions. A theme in the book is the increasingly stark divide between the ever-more democratic nature of state governments and the ever-less democratic nature of the federal government over time"--