PROF. Eghosa Osaghae, Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) on Wednesday advocated a rebalance of powers between the Federal Government and the federating units, saying centralisation and federalism were not mutually exclusive.
Osaghae made the call while delivering the maiden Annual Federalism Lecture of the Centre for Federalism and Democratic Studies at the University of Benin (UNIBEN).
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the lecture was titled, “Federalism: The Paradigm of a Turning Centre.”
The NIIA boss argued that although the modern state had become increasingly centralised due to global security, economic and governance pressures, federal systems must continuously adjust the balance of powers between the centre and constituent units to remain stable.
According to him, challenges such as globalisation, terrorism, armed conflicts, migration, climate change, trade disputes and rapid technological changes have strengthened central governments across the world.
“Federal systems are not immune to the forces of centralisation and centralisation is not incompatible with federalism.
“The powers of the central government in every federation are dependent on the balance of forces.
“When those forces change, the powers also shift. If they do not shift, the federal system is threatened and it can collapse,” he said.
The former Vice-Chancellor of Igbinedion University, Okada, explained that federalism rested on two concurrent principles – centralisation and what he described as “non-centralisation”, which guarantees the constitutional powers of federating units.
He said while governments could decentralise powers at their discretion, the constitutional authority of states in a federation must remain protected.
Osaghae further explained that federal systems generally emerged through either an “aggregative” process, where previously independent states voluntarily united under a central government, or a “disaggregative” process, where an already centralised state devolved powers to constituent units.
He said Nigeria belonged to the latter category, making debates over the distribution of powers inevitable.
“It is this disaggregative process that makes the terrain of federalism more contested than settled.
“The central government continues to hold sway, making federalism a continuous process of negotiation,” he said.
The renowned scholar on federalism recalled that before the 1966 military intervention, Nigeria operated a region-centred federal system in which the regions exercised substantial autonomy.
He said the regions maintained overseas offices, including diplomatic representations in London, illustrating the extent of their constitutional powers.
“We had a region-centred federal system in which the regions were so powerful.
“If you went to London before 1966, you would find the consulate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as well as the consulates of the Northern, Western, Eastern and Midwest regional governments,” he said.
Osaghae said the military government subsequently transformed the structure into a nation-centred federation by concentrating more powers at the centre.
He, however, noted that the search for “true federalism” should focus less on securing greater allocations from the Federal Government and more on empowering states to become economically productive and fiscally independent.
“Those calling for true federalism are also asking for more resources from the Federal Government.
“Why are they not asking for productive capacities and internally generated revenues that will make them less dependent on the centre?” he queried.
Earlier, the Vice-Chancellor of UNIBEN, Prof. Edoba Omoregie (SAN), said the establishment of the Centre for Federalism and Democratic Studies reflected the university’s commitment to producing research-based solutions to governance challenges.
Omoregie said universities must serve as laboratories of ideas where society’s pressing issues were interrogated with intellectual rigour and practical solutions developed.
He said the centre would promote research, policy dialogue and public engagement on federalism, constitutionalism, democracy, good governance and peacebuilding.
The vice-chancellor expressed optimism that the centre would evolve into one of Africa’s foremost think tanks on federalism and democratic studies.
NAN also reports that the lecture attracted academics, policymakers, students and other stakeholders from across the country. (NAN)
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