Opinion: Federalism and the Challenge of National Development In Nigeria, By Kayode Oladele
…internal challenges are what drive the federal principle; and not the principle of sharing the national cake, which many have confused as amounting to the basis of federating. That is the missing link in the debate on federalism in Nigeria. True fiscal federalism is, in essence, a democratic demand and a democratic right of citizens.
The U.S.’s economic diversity, rather than its cultural diversity, partly accounted for this, with the South being agrarian and slave-dependent, and the North being an industrialising region that required the services of the freed slaves for its manpower. This found expression in politics. Hence Abraham Lincoln from Chicago became the leading force of the emergent industrial/capitalist class.
All these where borne out of the British’s divide-and-rule principle. The various constitutional conferences that took place from the early 1950s onwards were meant to further divide, rather than unite Nigerians, hence the riots that took place following the NCNC mobilisation campaigns in Kano in the 1950s. Everything was politicised and Nigerians never had an opportunity to discuss their future.
At the core of the fear of the debate around federalism is the question of uneven social and educational development in the country. Ironically, some political elites and supremacists have used this to dominate and subordinate the interests of their people.
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