Origins of the Central Dilemma in Nigeria's Federal System: The Wartime Quasi-Federalism, 1967-1970

INTRODUCTION In the debate on the political machinery in Nigeria's Fourth Republic inaugurated on May 29, 1999 three powerful arguments have dominated discussions on the federal system of government. (1) The first and most fundamental is how the lack of true federalism has become a factor of continuous political crisis. The second relates to the military factor in the over-centralization and authoritarianism of the federal system in which the form of federalism does not relate to any model in world. The third argument is how the unresolved national question has created the problem of citizenship contestations with identifiable lack of political will and commitment to the right sequencing of political and constitutional reforms. These three arguments relate not only to the practice and problems of federalism in Nigeria but the performance of the political system in realizing the immense potentials of the nation. Of the main possible explanations for the origins of the central dilemma in Nigeria's federal system, this paper considers wartime influences from 1967 to 1970 as the most crucial. This is because the investigations of the origins of the problems in the wartime history provide an analytical account of how the political crisis that initiated military intervention in 1966 interrupted the process of basic constitutional development of federalism in Nigeria. In discussing these problems, the main argument of this paper is that political development in Nigeria has been retarded by the persistence of wartime quasi-federalism with the consequence that today the constraining factor of the society's rapid transformation and development is the quasi-federal structure, which is lacking the driving force for the development of a strong political system. This paper makes no pretensions to completeness of the study of the critical period in Nigerian history from 1967 to 1970, either as a summary of the events of the civil war years, or as a discussion of the political question involved in the events of that period. It is aimed particularly at the interpretation of federalism both as a political theory and a political technique, which was applied in its political mechanism with its fundamental tendency of harmonization, to provide for a new political organization of Nigeria in its wartime history. (2) The central issue of the war was national cohesion, which greatly influenced the substantial change in the structure of the federation. The application of federal ideas to the political problems of Nigeria during this period suggests that in theory and practice, federalism is a relative and dynamic principle of modern state formation. But the Nigerian wartime quasi-federalism as pointed out in this paper was essentially pretence for it, at least, from a discussion of the theoretical issues in federalism. THEORETICAL ISSUES Scholarly interest in both the theory and practice of federalism has exploded in recent years, and the outflow of literature has focused on the nature and meaning of federalism as well as the experiences of federal states and societies across the globe. (3) The study of federalism can be problematic. For this reason, the emerging literature not only analyzes the conceptual bases of federalism and federation but further explores issues in comparative federalism and federation. Federalism is often deemed a desirable governmental form, in delivering exciting prospects for the resolution of the national question in Africa. (4) This is so because, in theory, federalism is the advocacy of federal political orders, where final authority is divided between the federating units and the center. Constitutionally, the two levels have final authority and can act independently of the other on specific matters relating to national and international roles. The federal arrangements seem to be interesting solutions to accommodating differences among populations divided by ethnic cleavages yet seeking a common political order. …