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| The Quest for Restructuring and Ethnic Balancing In Nigeria: The Dynamics and Realities for True Federalism |
Okeke Martin Ifeanyi Ph.D, Dr. Uche Ojukwu, Dr. Desmond O. Nnamani
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Abstract:
This paper ascertains the quest for restructuring and ethnic balancing in Nigeria: the dynamics and realities for true federalism. The structure of Nigerian federalism was born out of colonial convenience rather than necessity at the instance of the colonial masters who connived with the selfish political elites who intend to be leaders of big wide Nigeria. Though there is an assumption that the British has good intention to adopt federalism, but they left porous foundation and weak principles within the system. Despite this, Nigeria federalism has been distorted from its original practice and structure by long military incursion in politics through centralization of power. This scenario has created imbalances, enormous tensions and intensifies conflicts that reinvigorate many tribal sects to outwit the formal security apparatus in the structure of Nigeria. The yearnings and aspirations of this sect have been considered as uneven development in fair-share of the national cake; and restructuring is the only pathway to sustain peaceful co-existence in Nigeria. The concept of restructuring is designed to balance all ethnic groups to have a stake on matters concerning the economic base and other basic services leaving the centre to decide only on exclusive matters especially defence, foreign relations, immigration, national security among others. It is the opinion of this paper to investigate the dynamics for restructuring to balance all the imbalances among various ethnic groups in dispensing the national cake in Nigeria. Split-Class Marxian theory was used as the framework to analyze this scenario and proffer solutions to enhance strong federal union and enhance national development in Nigeria.
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