Volume 6 • Issue 3 • 1000258 Review Pub Administration Manag, an open access journal ISSN: 2315-7844 Review Article Open Access Review of Public Administration and Management R e vi e w o f P u b li c A d m i n i s t r a ti o n a n d M a n a g e m e n t ISSN: 2315-7844 Umoh and Adeyi, Pub Administration Manag 2019, 6:3 DOI: 10.4172/2315-7844.1000258 Social Integration: A Nation-Building Strategy for Nigeria’s Federalism Nanji Umoh, PhD* and Ezekiel Major Adeyi, PhD Department of Political Science, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Jos, Jos, Nigeria Abstract Federalism was adopted for Nigeria to effectively manage her multi-nationalities through negotiations and compromises on issues of political and national importance. As a system of government, it allows for the existence, side by side, of a myriad of groups differentiated by culture, history, norms and so forth and necessitates forging a common identity unclouded by ethnic cleavages as a prelude to national growth and development. The paper traces the evolution of Nigeria’s federalism through the colonial and post-colonial era to examine the infuence of governance or the lack of it over the nation-building processes in Nigeria. This is imperative if the threats to her social, political and economic development posed by problematic nuances including power sharing, ethnicity and religion must be effectively addressed. These have defned Nigeria’s history, dotted her sociopolitical landscape, threatened her stability and existence as a federation and defed solutions by her successive military and civilian governments. For Nigeria, a developing country with unique federal characteristics, this paper proposes measures of remediation and social integration deriving from Rokkan’s nation-building model. The model is deemed appropriate in view of its procedural qualities through which interest articulation and harmonization can eventually be achieved. The measures, if adopted, will offer a leeway for ensuring more benefcial intergovernmental relations, boost the practice of federalism and improve the tangibility of governmental functions, output and the value of public service delivery to her citizenry. Keywords: Nigerian federalism; Diversity; Social integration; Stabil- ity; Nation building Introduction A federal state is more than a loose alliance of independent states. It defnes a sovereign state characterized by the union of partially self- governing constituent units subordinate to a central government. Te self-governing status of the component states is constitutionally entrenched and may not be altered by a unilateral decision of the central government [1]. Te component states of a federation usually possess no powers in relation to foreign policy and so they enjoy no independent status under international law [1,2]. Federations may be multi-ethnic, or cover a large area of territory, although neither is necessarily the case. Tey are ofen founded on agreements between a number of sovereign states based on mutual concerns or interests. Te purpose can be the desire to solve mutual problems or to provide for mutual defense. Te initial agreements create a stability that encourages other common interests, brings the disparate territories closer together, and gives them all a more common ground without necessarily losing their individual identities. In a federation, the constituent units are considered in some sense as sovereign, insofar as certain powers are reserved to them that may not be exercised by the central government [1,2]. Federalism originated from the intergovernmental relations of the ancient Greece, when attempts were made to describe the legal relationships between the leagues and the city-states. Te leagues represented the union of several city states under a single administration while the city-state, like the states in Nigeria today, existed to oversee individual afairs. Te leagues then were diferent from the current structure of modern federalism in that while the various governments freely interacted, no direct contact between the citizens of the various governments was permitted [3]. Tere is no hardline rule on the characteristics that federations must possess. Tough their unique historical backgrounds or origins may difer, they must possess certain basic distinguishing characteristics through which they are clearly identifed as federal systems. Some federations may practice asymmetric federalism that allows some of their constituent units more autonomy than others as in Malaysia, whereby Sarawak and Sabah entered the federation on diferent terms and conditions from the states of Peninsular Malaysia, Canada in which Alberta and Ottawa have responsibilities which difer from those of the other provinces and India where special provisions are made for the states of Jammu and Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh, Manipur and so forth [4,5]. Nigeria’s federalism: A brief history Prior to the British conquest of the diferent nations making up the present-day Nigeria, there were communities that were independent of each other and of Britain [6]. Most of what is now Nigeria became British Territory between 1885 and 1914, although some autonomous communities like the Benin Kingdom, the Yoruba and Ibo territories were not conquered and incorporated in the protectorate until the early 20th Century [7]. Te Northern and Southern protectorates were created in 1900 for the administration of groups within the area. Te Crown Colony in Lagos served as the administrative headquarters from which the Governor-General operated with oversight from Britain. In 1906, all units under the Northern protectorate were amalgamated and in 1910, the Southern Protectorate and the Crown Colony, Lagos, were amalgamated into a single unit, the Colony and Protectorate of Southern Nigeria. In 1914, the Colony and Protectorate of Southern Nigeria and the Protectorate of Northern Nigeria were amalgamated into one unit, Nigeria, under the ofce of the Governor-General, Lord Frederick Lugard who had the powers to legislate on all matters relating to the whole country [8]. Nigeria’s federal structure began with Bernard Bourdillon’s division of the British colonial entity into three provinces (the Northern, Eastern and Western) from two protectorates (the Northern and Southern) in *Corresponding author: Umoh N, Department of Political Science, University of Jos, Jos, Nigeria, Tel: +234(0)8037036401; E-mail: nanjiumoh@gmail.com Received December 04, 2018; Accepted December 27, 2018; Published January 07, 2019 Citation: Umoh N, Adeyi EM (2019) Social Integration: A Nation-Building Strategy for Nigeria’s Federalism. Review Pub Administration Manag 6: 258. doi:10.4172/2315- 7844.1000258 Copyright: ©2019 Umoh N, et al. 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