The Quest to Restructure Nigeria: A Case for the Concept of Democratic Localism

Bartholomew Uzoya Okougbosun PhD; Enato; Lucky Success Ehimeme; PhD

doi:10.56201/jhsp.vol.11.no8.2025.pg122.130

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The Quest to Restructure Nigeria: A Case for the Concept of Democratic Localism

Bartholomew Uzoya Okougbosun PhD, Enato, Lucky Success Ehimeme, PhD

Abstract

This paper examines the trajectory of the development of the state called Nigeria, in order to understand if the concept of political restructuring is a new concept in the history of the country. It also interrogates the structure of fiscal federalism, how the sub-national units of the country have been structured in their constitutional relationship with the central or federal government in the allocation of revenue or the surplus of production, from the time country gained independence in 1960. Through the qualitative approach, the study finds that in the Republican Constitution of 1963, the leadership of the country made efforts in enshrining an equitable derivative and revenue allocation or sharing formula that reflected the productive and natural proclivities of the sub-national constituent units, until the emergence of the military government in 1966. The paper finds that it was the military that restructured the equitable fiscal federal system in line with their centralized military structure, which gave rise to the unitary system, which over the years have become ossified as the unitary-federal system that the country is now structured into. Therefore, the paper recommends a novel system that is described as “Democratic Localism “in the restructuring of the country.

Keywords

Political RestructuringFiscal FederalismRevenue Sharing Formula

References

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The Quest to Restructure Nigeria: A Case for the Concept of Democratic Localism

Abstract

Keywords

References

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