Tackling unitary features of Nigeria’s federal system
Between January 1966 and September 1999, the military politicians who ruled Nigeria for close to thirty years – from Aguiyi Ironsi to Abdusalami Abubakar – introduced unitary features that were inspired by their military culture but were inconsistent with the features of the negotiated federal system introduced in 1954. It was in reference to this negotiated federal system that Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa made the following observation in 1957: “The federal system is, under the present conditions, the only basis on which Nigeria can remain united” (italics added). The extreme example of the military leaders’ unitary mind-set was Aguiyi Ironsi’s infamous “Unification” Decree of 1966 that precipitated the civil war.
