The Rise of Ethnic Militias, De-Legitimisation of the State, and the Threat to Nigerian Federalism

Abstract

Federalism has been variously defined in political/administrative terms and as a processual understanding that incorporates socio-cultural and behavioural components. (Agbaje, 2000:3). It is also a form of organisation of a state in which there is deconcentration of powers, which are usually constitutionally demarcated among national and sub-national units (Babawale, 2000:45). However, it can be said that the idea of federalism is still an evolving one. Its practice in Nigeria has been a mixed bag of some fidelity to the federal principle (especially during the first republic) and oftentimes a near abandonment of its guiding principles, especially under successive military administrations. Essentially, what can be aggregated from the various definitions is that federalism is a compromise solution in a multi-national state whereby the component units desire a supranational framework of government which guarantees security for all in the nation state while at the same time recognising and affirming the individualities of the component units, all of who seek to retain their individual identities.