Federalism is one of those social science concepts who's definition has remained nebulous. It is a compound form of government. It refers to a governmental arrangement in which the statutory or constitutional Powers that exists in a given system are shared between a Central or federal government and the federating units, usually refered to as regions, cantoons, provinces or states. This is entirely different from Unitarism where the center control all governmental powers and only cede some to the lower levels such as is in existence in France and it's prefectoral system. It also differs from the concept of confederalism wherein the federating units are more powerful than the center.
K.C Wheare was explicit in his description of the concept of federalism. It allows the general and composite structures existing within a given territory to have autonomy in their spheres of influence. These areas of influence are to be exercised independent of any form of interference by either of both structures, and they are to have sufficient funds to finance the government of these structures. It must be noted however that in a federal setting, beyond the center and regions, there is often another level of government, which is closest to the people. This is the local government. The powers of these units are as stipulated in the exclusive, concurrent and residual legislative lists for the central and composite units respectively.
Federalism in Nigeria can be taken back to Arthur Richard constitution of 1946 which experimented with the idea of regionalism. It aimed at giving the people some room to participate in governance. It was however the Oliver Littleton constitution of 1954 that constitutionalised the federal system of government for the country in the buildup to it's Independence. The aim was to protect the interest of the divers ethnic groups that constitute the country. Thus, for a people of over two hundred (200) ethnic groups with multiple languages, religion and other cultural attributes, federalism must be their best option.
There are several variants of federalism, and they vary according to the definition of the concept by a given people. However, fiscal federalism usually draws much attention in any federal formation, as formula for the sharing of accrued resources between the central and federating units often creates room for questioning of the whole federal arrangement.
In Nigeria, the issue of fiscal federalism has elicited grave concerns and has remained a bone of contention. Over time, individuals and groups, especially from the oil producing Niger Delta region have called for what they term "True federalism", often in loss reference to resource control by the federating units. This is in addition to fiscal restructuring to reflect a reduction in sources of revenue open to the Central government. So also is clamour for the reduction of powers and responsibilities of the central government as outlined in the exclusive list in favor of the component units.
It goes without saying that these are all issues that could be resolved by simply having an "own-definition" of the concept of federalism and adopt same to meet the contemporary needs of "own-people". It therefore behooves a society to define the social science concept it's own way and work with it for the good of its people.
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