Contextual analysis of Federalism and democracy in

Nigeria
Why states become federal? Is federalism compatible with democracy?

American university of central Asia

Why states become federal? Is federalism compatible with democracy?

Sub-questions:

Why Nigeria become federal?

What kind of relationship does exist between federalism and democracy?

Why did Nigeria become federal?

Why the theory of Riker is inadequate in explaining Nigeria federalism?

Introduction:

Federalism is a root term in political science and international relation. it directs the

attention of political science from the nature of the regimes and personality of the leaders to

the political relationship between national government and local. Federalism is the best tool

in shaping political behavior, defining political justice, and directing people toward

appropriate civic engagement rather just serving based on the principle of majority or

minority, it adequately serves based on the compound of both groups which always preserve

the minority right. Consequently, federalism is one of the best kind of government

administration which emphasis based on the principle of democracy, the importance of

liberty and implementing of the constitutional polity. Further, Federal states are consist of

multilingual, multi-ethnic, multi-culture and multi-national policies. In order to control such

diverse states, governments should run based on the principle of both democracy and

federalism because of the existence of a deep relationship between federalism and democracy

which made them depended on each other. Democracy is an independent factor it has existed

in both centralized and federal government but plays a curial role in the federal state. Federal

states are unstable as long as it exists out of democratic context because the state rationally

progresses either to “ territorial disintegration or becoming a more constitutional formality.”1

1
Further, democracy is a form of government where the source of powers comes from people,

federalism a form of administrative government which power is sharing between national and

sub-national government and each national unit act Independent of the central government.

Thus, I argue that, commonly federalism arise in multilingual, multi-ethnic, multi-cultural

society for leading democratic governance, equal distribution of power and strengthen the

process of Integration between national and local; intergovernmental organizations and

multi-national corporations. In the case of Nigeria Federalism ascended from, diversity,

socio-economic growth, demilitarization of the regime, and discontinuation of civil war

which led unity and democratic government structure and institution.

Conceptual and theoretical framing of democracy and federalism:

A modern and complete political system is the combination of both federalism and

democracy. Federalism promotes democracy and democracy promotes liberal values based

on the constitutional norms and rule of law. Federalism led for democratic development in

large and diverse societies. Mostly Multi-ethnic diverse countries looking for federalism as a

solution of political integration within the framework of democratic institutions such as

Nigeria, USA, Canada, Switzerland and many more.

Moreover, federalism and democracy constitute a distinct government division of

power. The federal governments share power in two ways verticality and horizontally which

shows the separation of power and territories in the national and sub-national unit. According

to the theory of federalism, if the combination of high functionating democracy and stable

federalism reach in the maximum equilibrium, it is called desirable democratic system. Yet

the theory does not describe how to get to the equilibrium.2 Though, there is a possibility of

the existing policy of constitutional federalism which may be caused long-standing

democracy. However, the problem with constitutional federalism is undermining the partial

2
Elazar, Daniel Judah. Exploring Federalism. Vol. [1991]. Tuscaloosa, AL: University Alabama Press, 1991.

2
democratic system and interfering with the democratic process. Thus, desirable democracy

does not exist, it is just conceptualized. As Riker argues that federalism is a non-equilibriums

political process and federal governments are encircled with the unstable division of power

sharing in the long-term it will turn to the advantage of some or the determent of others.3

Further, collation and bargaining of power between state versus center or subnational

government versus the federal government is a lot. Thus, the main problem is the power and

the control one over that another one. For example, if the subnational governments become

more powerful than the federal government “peripheralized federalism” or if the federal

government gain more power “ centralized federalism” comes to existence which both of

them are an unstable form of government administration.4 Hence, neither too centralize and

nor loos federalism is suitable for democratic government. They should observe the balance

of power and equal distribution of wealth and natural resources. Therefore, to centralize

government will lead to an authoritarian regime and oppress of ethnic minority and too

decentralized will led to the fragile of political institution and the empowerment of minority

groups. Thus, Federalism and democracy are always supported each other regarding the

distribution of power and authority in different levels and different political arena of gaining

power and limiting power.

Human and scholars of social are a concern of instituting of political justices to

achieve political order, understanding the reality of political power and its exercise and

creating of appropriate civil society and social community which is capable of integration,

cooperation, and assimilation. Federalism in the context means “self-rule and shared rule”

which is being used for resolving political integration problem in a country. In the case of

successfully solving the problem by establishing policies have become models for its kind

such as the US and Switzerland. Ideologically federalism reflects three different

3
Elazar, Daniel Judah. Exploring Federalism. Vol. [1991]. Tuscaloosa, AL: University Alabama Press, 1991.
4
Shvetsova, Olga & Filippov, Mikhail. (2013). Federalism, democracy, and democratization

3
mobilizations such as “centralist, decentralist, and balance.”5 The Federalist ideology of

centralism exposes that to maintaining peace and preventing war there should be a

supranational structure over nation states. Secondly, the Federalist ideology of decentralism

is about the sharing of power between national and subnational which clearly expressing

individualism and democracy. The last one is a federalist balance which is more used as a

balance between “autonomy and independence; unity and diversity.”6 The United States and

Switzerland are representing the best model of both federalism and democratic government.

The US federal political system guarantees civil liberty and popular rule through separation

of power, fundamental right, and election. Further, federalism is more responsible in

heterogenous society. Every federal government is responsible for providing the local

demand and need.

Federalism emphasis on the structure and process and its central interest is liberty.

According to federalism “ humans are born free and good government must be grounded in a

framework of maximum human liberty.”7 Accordingly, federalism task is to design a good

government structure based on the principle of liberty in order to maintain federal bargain

and openness. Successful federal system should not be only characterized by constitutional

arrangement, but also through sharing power, negotiation, and bringing unity to the whole

nation. Federal principle offers a possible resource for solving problems not only for federal

states system but also for the non-federal state system. Hence, federalism to be found in the

institutionalization of political relationship rather a set of a particular institution.

Intergovernmental relation is the result of one or two government interaction in the

development of public policies. While according to the statist theory intergovernmental

5
Shvetsova, Olga & Filippov, Mikhail. Federalism, democracy, and democratization. (2013).

6
Elazar, Daniel Judah. Exploring Federalism. Vol. [1991]. Tuscaloosa, AL: University Alabama Press, 1991.

7
shvetsova. olga, Filippova. Mikhail, Federalism, and democratization, Binghamton university, February 2015

4
relation means international relationships among central government and sovereign states.

Throughout history, federalism has been applied to a variety of relationship in the case of

supporting ethnic minority, pluralism, individual liberty, and local liberty. Such as in India

federalism has linguistic bases, in Switzerland sharing of equal power and decentralization of

power in Venezuela. 8

Nonetheless, federalism one of the best kind of government administrative system but

still there is some criticism existed about it. As Tocqueville claims that even though

federalism is good administrative kind of government, pessimistic about federalism as a

durable form of government still exist. For one Tocqueville believed that federalism is a

complicated form of government, secondly, federalism choose equality over liberty due to of

having multi-dimensional social complexity and thirdly, federalism policy is not suited to win

wars because of having less power in the case of mobilizing its entire society and attracting

public attention. 9However, Federalism cause to unite separatist political units with creating a

comprehensive political system in such a way that maintains political integrity by

emphasizing negotiation and bargaining. Bargaining is an important and required part of

federalism which is usually open and accessible, unlike centralized and hierarchical system.

Therefore, most of the features of federal tried to maintain the openness of bargaining in both

accessibility and bargaining itself. In this case, Multi-ethnic states tried to use federalism as a

way of managing ethnic conflict. All ethnicities hope is political recognition, cultural and

language right and equal access to national wealth.10 Consequently, Federalism reduces ethnic

tensions and conflict and instead establish and encourage inter-ethnic cooperation, and

coordination and reducing social disparities and separatism. Further, Federalism has been the

best mechanism for managing multi-national state not only in EU states, US but also in Asia.

For example, India federalism reveals that national integration in a diverse state possible
8
shvetsova. olga, Filippova. Mikhail, Federalism, and democratization, Binghamton university, February 2015
9
Kincaid, John. "Federal Democracy and Liberty." PS: Political Science and Politics.
10
Shvetsova, Olga & Filippov, Mikhail. (2013). Federalism, democracy, and democratization.

5
through territorial decentralization, grantee of personal security and freedom of individual in

all kind of social, economic and political aspects.

US federal system was the first modern federal polity and clearly linked to

democracy. Not only all modern federal system claim democratic governance, but also some

non-federal states hold the general legacy of democracy like France. France does not have a

federal system, but it uses the federalism principle. Switzerland is politically well-known for

its three institutions “ neutrality, federalism and direct democracy” which currently attracts

the attention of many other states. Direct democracy means giving power to the citizens

directly or semi-directly on the voting of fundamental issues, elected representative, popular

referenda and many more. while in Switzerland direct democracy have been used in different

kind of referenda and popular initiatives. For example, it was a mandatory referendum for

Switzerland to join the European Economic Area, but people rejected by their voting power.

Swiss federalism is the result of civil war ( religions clash) between Catholics and

Protestants. 11While Catholics wanted a decentralized state and radical protestants wanted and

centralized state. Political federalism of national government should preserve the role of

local and electoral bodies of government. Hence, the federal government should implement

the federal policies by the process of Federal bargaining, distributive bargaining over making

policy making because if the federal government does not do so, in a long time it would

create challenges for federal government and policies.

According to the theory of federalism, balancing is normally incoherent and unstable

because the demand for balancing and unity could rise up separatism. Federalism Concern

with the question of political behavior, group, ethics, institutions and individuals and

diffusion of political power by the name of liberty.

Case of Nigeria federalism

11
Kincaid, John. "Federal Democracy and Liberty." PS: Political Science and Politics 32

6
 The best example of how federalism roots democratic government in a developing

country like Nigeria in Africa and how democratic government establishes a federal state by

implementing liberal democratic principle by equal distribution of resources and equal

participation of mass in the election is a big task. Though, federalism does not have a positive

image in overall Africa still successful in some states such as Nigeria and South Africa.

Nevertheless, federalism has been the supporter of unity and harmony within a state, but In

Africa, the federal idea and democratic principle have been both used and abused by political

elites and politicians. In Africa power is concentrated in the hand of kinship groups or around

political units and political elites. Even though, the nature of politics has been changed from

traditional forms of governments which is function alongside the hierarchy of elders, clans,

and tribes to the modern secular political authority government, still being practiced.12

Further, most of the African states government administration changed to federalism during

the colonization period. The idea of federalism changed over time in Africa during the pre-

colonial and post-colonial stage. By post-colonial federalism in 1960 in Africa, two types of

federal constructions have emerged such as intra-state federation and inter-state federation.

Traditionally, federalism used to resolve ethnic, linguistic, tribal tensions within a single

political system. In Africa over all the idea of federalism has been referred to the recognition

of different diversity in the term of forms and driving force of federation. That’s why African

states experienced down and fall of federalism thought out the 19th century.13

The reasons for the for the fall-down or failure of federalism of Nigeria in the past

was varied economic imbalances between the rich and poor group, imbalances in the size of

the federal component, ideological contradiction, different socio-political structure, and the

absence of socio-economic conditions for liberal democracy. Not only different socio-

economic structures cause an obstacle to practical federal unity in Africa, but also rivalries
12
Burgess, Michel, Federalism in Africa, 2012

13
Burgess, Michel, Federalism in Africa, 2012

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and animosities among elites and political leader are the crucial factors in the failure of

federalism. 14Nigeria is one of the African countries which experienced the most turbulent

liberal democracy in Africa. Nevertheless, Nigeria had the experience of being a federal state,

not the liberal democratic. It achieved government stability in 2007 through the presidential

election without any military intervention. The military is one the major political player in

Nigeria which is ruled until the 19th century. The more the military intervention decreased,

the more democratic and federal the state becomes. 15

Apart from being a large African state, it is highly diverse. Around 250 sub-ethnic

tribal, religious, linguistic and minorities live in Nigeria. That’s why the government divide

the nation in three-part such as “large territories, concentrated and ethnic identities.”16 The

three largest ethnic groups, which are largely different from one another in the term of

culture, politics, and economics are Hausa-Fulani, Yoruba and Igbo which dominated the

Northern, Western and Eastern Regions. Historically each of these ethnicities seeks the

maximum share of national revenue and resources in the term of the geopolitical region and

ethnic groups. That’s why, still the Nigerian society suffer from oil dependency, corruption,

and presence of the military. Through the Nigeria history of independence, it had 28 years of

military government which was lastly ended in 1999. Establishing democratic stability was a

big challenge for the government because of the long-standing religious clash between

Muslims ( 48-50% )and Christians( 34-36%) and many other ethnic clashes which were

going on in Nigeria.17

14
Bolaji, Mohammed H. A. "Between Democracy and Federalism: Shari'ah in Northern Nigeria and the Paradox
Institutional Impetuses." Africa Today 59
15
Ahmed aliyu, Aishatu, NIGERIAN FEDERALISM AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT: PURSUIT, PROSPECTS
AND IMPEDIMENTS TO UNITY AND NATION BUILDING DEPARTMENT OF GENERAL STUDIES, FEDERAL

16
Bolaji, Mohammed H. A. "Between Democracy and Federalism: Shari'ah in Northern Nigeria and the Paradox of
Institutional Impetuses." Africa Today 59
bobalola, Dele (2013), “The Origins of Nigerian Federalism: The Rikerian Theory and Beyond”, Federal
17

Governance, Vol. 8, No. 3, 43-54.

8
 One of the most notable works in the area of federalism is the theory of William. H.

Riker. The central of Riker theory is federation which is forming by political bargaining

between two sets of rational Politician. The major motive for political bargaining is military

which is used for the purpose of aggregation of territories. The perception of Riker theory of

federalism is based on expansion and military condition. In the case of Nigeria Riker claimed

that the expansionist ambition of Ghana and its leader Kwame Nkrumah was the main

external threat of the formation. Most of the other scholars argue that the Rikerian theory of

federal formation is inadequate in explaining Nigeria federalism. Dele Babalola claims

federalism in Nigeria is the result of certain social, historical, cultural, economic and

geographical factors which can be explained by the theory of socio-economic and political

theory. Further, he added that “federal solution in Nigeria was necessitated by the desire to

achieve unity and diversity.”18 The reasons that Nigeria becomes federal is the size and the

population of the country. Nigeria is one of the most populated countries in the African

compares to the other countries. The estimated population of Nigeria is about 45,21 million.

Secondly, the regional leaders demanded federalism system of government before the

independent from British. By the time of getting independence regional leaders established

political parties which most of them involved in the forming of regional bases and searching

an amount internal policy independence. That’s why most of the weaker regional powers with

some major regional powers favored federalism. The third reason is the framework for the

development for advancing the system of good governance and equal distribution of

resources between the local and the central authorities.

Beside all the problems of multinational, multi-religious and multi-culture and many

other complex issues with political economic and oil dependency, Nigeria succeeded in

establishing federalism and democracy. Regarding the oil which Nigeria is an oil-rich

country and still dealing with the issue of oil dependency which causes and raises serious
18
olaji, Mohammed H. A. "Between Democracy and Federalism: Shari'ah in Northern Nigeria and the Paradox of

9
questions about the human right violation. That’s why the current constitution of Nigeria

encourage integration along with the federal character of the county by including sex,

religion, origin, ethnic and linguistic. Before there was always a clash between Muslims and

Christians. Muslim states in the north of Nigeria tried to install sharia law as the

predominantly Muslim state law which violates others ethnicity right. Nevertheless, now the

federal government try to promote the principle of democratic governance, national unity,

integration, and sense of belonging which may be effectively responded to the complex

plurality of its society. In general, the convergence of democracy and federalism result from

mutual reinforcing. Federalism reinforce democracy by creating opportunities for popular

participation through its federal bureaucracies, policies, and regulation. Further, federalism is

the promotor of pluralism, democratic government, and social justices for among diverse

cultural group. In addition, a federal system’s multiple layers of governments not only bring

democracy closer to the people but provide them with opportunities to influence the decisions

that affect them the most.19

However, in Nigeria federalism promotes democracy in a way which is controlled by

elites, military force, and politicians which causes crumpet corruption, extreme poverty, and

no accountability demand. All these reasons caused the political apathy in Nigeria. political

apathy is that the majority of the population do not show interest towards political parties,

election, politicians and the government system as a whole. The reasons behind political

apathy are the lake of information, a lake of interest and corruption. Hence, the citizens of

Nigeria does not believe and trust in their politician and political process because of huge

corruption and exploitation.

In conclusion, Nigeria has had challenges to its governmental regime, stability, and

legitimacy. The palatalization of religion and poor resources caused corruptions and human

19
Ahmed aliyu, Aishatu, NIGERIAN FEDERALISM AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT: PURSUIT, PROSPECTS
AND IMPEDIMENTS TO UNITY AND NATION BUILDING DEPARTMENT OF GENERAL STUDIES, FEDERAL

10
right abuses. The most challenges to democratic culture in Nigeria are inadequate

modernization, social injustices, electro manipulation, and continuing military influence.

Alongside all the challenges Nigeria is promoting liberal democracy with the help of

internationals union better than the rest of African countries. The federation in Nigeria

endures and has prevented and manage form of conflict. However, Nigeria federation cannot

be compared with USA or Switzerland, but at least in the term of African heritage Nigeria

succeed in achieving a determined goal in the term of democracy and federalism.

Reference

Burgess, Michel, Federalism in Africa, 2012

Ahmed aliyu, Aishatu, NIGERIAN FEDERALISM AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT:

PURSUIT, PROSPECTS AND IMPEDIMENTS TO UNITY AND NATION BUILDING

DEPARTMENT OF GENERAL STUDIES, FEDERAL POLYTECHNIC, BAUCHI-

NIGERIA BEING, university of De Lome-Togo, 2014

Bolaji, Mohammed H. A. "Between Democracy and Federalism: Shari'ah in Northern Nigeria

and the Paradox of Institutional Impetuses." Africa Today 59, no. 4 (2013): 93-117.

doi:10.2979/africatoday.59.4.93.

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 bobalola, Dele (2013), “The Origins of Nigerian Federalism: The Rikerian Theory and

Beyond”, Federal Governance, Vol. 8, No. 3, 43-54.

chvetsova. Elice, Filippova. Mikhail, Federalism, and democratization, Binghamton

university, February 2015

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/

272153198_Federalism_democracy_and_democratization

Shvetsova, Olga & Filippov, Mikhail. (2013). Federalism, democracy, and democratization.

10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199652990.003.00

Elazar, Daniel Judah. Exploring Federalism. Vol. [1991]. Tuscaloosa, AL: University

Alabama Press, 1991. http://search.ebscohost.com.ldb.auca.kg:2048/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=23320&site=eds-live.

Federal democracy and liberty

Kincaid, John. "Federal Democracy and Liberty." PS: Political Science and Politics 32, no. 2

(1999): 211-16. doi:10.2307/420551

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