IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/oup/publus/v45y2015i4p552-579..html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Managing Constitutional Change in the Nigerian Federation

Author

Listed:
  • Rotimi Suberu

Abstract

Since making the transition from military to civilian rule in 1999, Nigeria has witnessed intensive, but largely unfulfilled, pressures for comprehensive federal constitutional change. This article analyzes the multiple ethno-political drivers and institutional themes of Nigeria’s constitutional struggles, the conflicting approaches to federal reform by governmental, civic, and ethno-regional groups, and potential pathways to a more effective governance of the country’s constitutional challenges. The article contends that incremental constitutional change and non-constitutional renewal, including benign constitutional transgressions and creative legislative and judicial interventions, offer the most feasible path to federal accommodation and development in Nigeria in the absence of national consensus on the desirability and modality of wholesale, mega-constitutional reform.

Suggested Citation

  • Rotimi Suberu, 2015. "Managing Constitutional Change in the Nigerian Federation," Publius: The Journal of Federalism, CSF Associates Inc., vol. 45(4), pages 552-579.
  • Handle: RePEc:oup:publus:v:45:y:2015:i:4:p:552-579.
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/publius/pjv014
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. World Bank, 2013. "Nigeria Economic Report, No. 1, May 2013," World Bank Publications - Reports 16568, The World Bank Group.
    2. World Bank, 2012. "Devolution without Disruption," World Bank Publications - Reports 27157, The World Bank Group.
    3. World Bank, 2007. "Nigeria - A Fiscal Agenda for Change : Public Expenditure Management and Financial Accountability Review, Volume I, Main report," World Bank Publications - Reports 7741, The World Bank Group.
    4. Bertelli, Anthony M. & John, Peter C., 2012. "From the editors," Journal of Public Policy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 32(03), pages 169-170, December.
    5. Richard M. Bird & François Vaillancourt, 2006. "Perspectives on Fiscal Federalism," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 6953.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Resnik, Danielle & Okumo, Austen, 2017. "Institutional Limits To Land Governance Reform: Federal-State Dynamics In Nigeria," Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Security Policy Research Papers 259578, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics, Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Security (FSP).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Thiemo Fetzer & Stephan Kyburz, 2024. "Cohesive Institutions and Political Violence," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 106(1), pages 133-150, January.
    2. Roy Bahl, 2012. "Metropolitan City Finances in India: Options for A New Fiscal Architecture," International Center for Public Policy Working Paper Series, at AYSPS, GSU paper1233, International Center for Public Policy, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University.
    3. Ghassan Baliki & Tilman Brück & Neil T. N. Ferguson & Sindu Workneh Kebede, 2022. "Fragility exposure index: Concepts, measurement, and application," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(2), pages 639-660, May.
    4. Marie-Laure BREUILLÉ & Emmanuelle TAUGOURDEAU, 2019. "Multi-tier tax competition on Gasoline," Working Papers 2019-23, Center for Research in Economics and Statistics.
    5. Rosario G. Manasan, 2018. "An Assessment of the Fiscal Features of the PDP Laban Model of Philippine Federalism 1.0 and the Gonzales-De Vera Federal Model," Working Papers id:12931, eSocialSciences.
    6. M. Govinda Rao & Bird, Richard M., 2010. "Urban governance and finance in India," Working Papers 10/68, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy.
    7. Tiangboho SANOGO, 2017. "Does fiscal decentralization enhance citizens’ access to public services and reduce poverty? Evidence from a conflict setting," Working Papers 201715, CERDI.
    8. repec:idb:brikps:445 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. repec:idq:ictduk:13739 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Eduardo Wiesner, 2008. "The Political Economy of Macroeconomic Policy Reform in Latin America," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 12913.
    11. Manasan, Rosario G., 2018. "An Assessment of the Fiscal Features of the PDP Laban Model of Philippine Federalism 1.0 and the Gonzales-De Vera Federal Model," Discussion Papers DP 2018-14, Philippine Institute for Development Studies.
    12. Jorge Martínez-Vázquez, 2008. "Revenue Assignments in the Practice of Fiscal Decentralization," Chapters, in: Núria Bosch & José M. Durán (ed.), Fiscal Federalism and Political Decentralization, chapter 2, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    13. Richard M. Bird, 2011. "Subnational Taxation In Developing Countries: A Review Of The Literature," Journal of International Commerce, Economics and Policy (JICEP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 2(01), pages 139-161.
    14. Turley Gerard & Di medio Rémi & McNena Stephen, 2020. "A reassessment of local government’s financial position and performance: The case of Ireland," Administration, Sciendo, vol. 68(2), pages 1-35, May.
    15. Blessing J Akombi & Kingsley E Agho & Andre M Renzaho & John J Hall & Dafna R Merom, 2019. "Trends in socioeconomic inequalities in child undernutrition: Evidence from Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (2003 – 2013)," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(2), pages 1-13, February.
    16. Makokha, Racheal Omukhulu, 2017. "Does Decentralization Improve Provision of Health Services? Evidence from Kisumu and Makueni Counties in Kenya," Thesis Commons xef7a, Center for Open Science.
    17. Manasseh Charles O. & Nwakoby Ifeoma C. & Okanya Ogochukwu C. & Ifediora Chuka U. & Nzidee Williams A., 2023. "The Impact of Foreign Direct Investment and Oil Revenue on Economic Growth in Nigeria," Studia Universitatis „Vasile Goldis” Arad – Economics Series, Sciendo, vol. 33(3), pages 61-85, September.
    18. Riccardo Fiorentini & Guido Montani, 2013. "Beyond Austerity A European Recovery Policy Is Feasible," Working Papers 06/2013, University of Verona, Department of Economics.
    19. Roy Bahl & Richard M. Bird, 2014. "Decentralization and Infrastructure: Principles and Practice," International Center for Public Policy Working Paper Series, at AYSPS, GSU paper1408, International Center for Public Policy, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University.
    20. Cristian Sepulveda & Jorge Martinez-Vazquez, 2012. "Explaining property tax collections in developing countries: the case of Latin America," Chapters, in: Giorgio Brosio & Juan P. Jiménez (ed.), Decentralization and Reform in Latin America, chapter 7, pages iii-iii, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    21. Jorge Martinez-Vazquez & Cristian Sepúlveda, 2007. "The Municipal Transfer System in Nicaragua:Evaluation and Proposals for Reform," International Center for Public Policy Working Paper Series, at AYSPS, GSU paper0708, International Center for Public Policy, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University.
    22. Nicola Bianchi & Michela Giorcelli & Enrica Maria Martino, 2023. "The Effects of Fiscal Decentralisation on Publicly Provided Services and Labour Markets," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 133(653), pages 1738-1772.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:oup:publus:v:45:y:2015:i:4:p:552-579.. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Oxford University Press (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://academic.oup.com/publius .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.