Nigeria's Inter-governmental Relations and the Current Restructuring Debate

Post-Independence federal arrangement of the Nigerian state has suffered undue torture of tinkering, especially during the prolonged military rule. It’s coming into power had resulted in the emergence of unitary federalism with the attendant fall-out of over-concentration of powers and resources at the centre, thereby rendering other component units of the federation, a mere appendage in inter-governmental relations. The current agitation for restructuring that is the re-ordering of relationships, distribution of power and resources within the components of the federation, by a wide-spectrum of ethnic nationalities across the geopolitical zones, is a reaction to the current arrangement of the Nigerian federation. This paper using Deils Wrights’ models as a framework of analysis with data generated through secondary sources, examines federal-Local and State-Local relates which is receiving scant attention compared to federal-state relations in the current agitation. Findings revealed that Local Governments has been at the mercy of the other two levels of government in fiscal, political and administrative relations. This has rendered the institution mostly ineffective in their functional responsibilities. It is therefore concluded that any reform agenda that will improve the standard of governance in Nigeria, should pay particular attention to this inclusive authority model of inter-governmental relations. Therefore the need arises for constitutional reforms for devolution of power and financial resources to local government for an effective local governance system that ultimately translates to national development.