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Fiscal Federalism And Resource Control In Nigeria: The Way Forward
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
Fiscal decentralization has become fashionable regardless of levels of development and civilization of societies. Nations are turning to devolution to improve the performance of their public sectors. Fiscal federalism is essentially about the allocation of government resources and spending to the various tiers of government. In general the intensification of clamour for greater decentralization is informed by a combination of people desiring to get more involved in government, and the inability of the central government to deliver quality services (Aigbokhan, 1999; Chete, 1998)
Decentralized systems of government give rise to a set of fiscal exigencies referred to as fiscal federalism also known as fiscal decentralization. It refers to the scope and structure of the tiers of governmental responsibilities and functions, and the allocation of resources among the tiers of government to cope with respective functions (Ewetan, 2012).
Fiscal federalism or decentralization debate in the country has been the focus of public discourse for several years now. It is an issue that has for the first time in the history of Nigeria forced the Southern people (South-South, South-East and now South-West), to unite to ‘fight’ for a common cause (Arowolo, 2011). The practice of federalism and resource control formed the focal at the 1957 Constitutional Conference in London and the 1958 Conference that led to the enactment of the 1960 Independence and 1963 Republican Constitutions.
The 1960 Independence and the 1963 Republican Constitutions respectively enshrined some fundamental principles of fiscal federalism and resource control in view of the level of deprivation percentage accruable regions. In the course of the nation’s political evolution, these constitutions were either suspended or repealed by the ruling military regimes and the country titled towards what looks like a unitary system but a very strong Federal Government.
With the return of democratic governance and the contending developmental problems that the Niger Delta region had successively experienced, there has been a spontaneous call for the institutionalization of resource control and true federalism (Nwogwugwu and Kupoluyi, 2015).
CHAPTER ONE -- [Total Page(s) 3]
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