PREAMBLE
Historically, the structure of
Nigeria federalism can be traced far back to 1914 when the Northern and
Southern protectorates were amalgamated though with unitary form of administration.
Since then, governmental power that existed in Nigeria started to be shared
between the central government headed by the Governor-General and the
governments of Northern and Southern protectorates headed by the lieutenant
Governors. Therefore, with the existence and recognition of the two autonomous
parts of Northern and Southern provinces, the administrative system of Nigeria
wore a somehow outlook of a federation. This paper seeks to discuss the federal
structure of Nigeria and Switzerland, and to make comparison of the
similarities and differences between the Nigeria federalism and that of
Switzerland.
DEFINITION OF FEDERALISM
Federalism is a system of government
in which governmental parts that exist in a country are shared between central
government and component region. It is also defined as the system of government
in which governmental parts are shared between the central government, i.e. the
federal government and its components (state and local government).
France federal structure
France is a small country of 7
million inhabitants surrounded by Germany, France, Italy, Austria and the small
principality of Liechtenstein. Although the first historical development of
small local state units seeking independence from foreign kingdoms goes back to
the 12th century, modern Switzerland has been constituted out of 25 sovereign
(6 half cantons) cantons with the first Federal Constitution of 1848. The 26th
Canton (Jura) has been constituted out of secession from the Canton of Berne in
the end of the seventies.
The federal constitution gives
significant powers both to Frnace’s 26 regional cantons, and to the individual
towns and villages in them. …A handful of cantons have used ultra-low taxation
to attract wealthy individuals to stimulate economic growth. Among the best
known are Zug and Schwyz, both not far from Zurich. Most recently, Obwalden, a
small, mountainous canton near Lucerne, slashed tax rates to match its low-tax
rivals.
The cantonal levy is complemented by
a local tax, calculated as a percentage of the cantonal level. Again, rates
vary dramatically, even between communities in the same canton. For example, in
the canton of Zurich, Switzerland’s most populous, local tax ranges from
roughly 70 per cent of the cantonal rate in the wealthy and relatively low-tax
towns and villages along Lake Zurich’s so-called Gold Coast, to more than 120
per cent in poorer and much more financially stretched communities in the
hinterland. The local and communal taxes are capped by a federal tax, payable
separately and at a different time of the year, that rises gently to peak at
11.5 per cent for the highest incomes.
Although three levels of taxation
might sound expensive, personal taxes in France are relatively modest compared
with much of Europe. Rates in the ultra-low-tax cantons can be as low as 16 per
cent. Even “average” cantons tend to charge less than elsewhere in Europe,
thanks to the cantonal tax competition that the Swiss say encourages cantons
and local administrations to maximize efficiency.( Political Rights in
Switzerland:2001)
Nigeria federal structure
Nigeria is one indivisible and
indissoluble sovereign state, whose constituent units are bound together by a
Federal arrangement. It provides for a presidential system of government in which
there is an Executive, a Legislature and a Judiciary, with each acting as a
check and balance on the powers of the other two arms. The Constitution further
provides for the operation of three tiers of government, at the Federal, State
and Local levels. These provisions are binding on all authorities and persons
throughout the Federation.
The relationship between the centre
and the state in the Nigerian federalism portrays her federalism sick and
problematic. Nigeria is a republic ran like a unitary state. Like many other
federation in the world, Nigeria has a written constitution, unlike many other
federations, Nigeria has not less than five constitutions since independent in
1960.
One disturbing factor that has doubt
among scholars as the functionalism of the Nigeria federalism is the excessive
power of the central government. In Nigeria the federal government monopolizes
power and only delegate duties at will without any reference to the
constitution, thereby contravening the principle and nature of federalism
whereby the exclusive, concurrent and residual function are clearly demarcated
for central and state government. The anomaly manifests clearly especially
under military regime since 1966 and has come to stay as a feature in Nigeria
politics.(Commonwealth of Nations. Retrieved 2009-12-21.)
COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS ON THE FEDERAL STRUCTURE OF NIGERIA AND
SWITZERLAND
SIMILARITIES BETWEEN FRANCE FEDERALISM AND NIGERIA
Although federations vary
considerably in how they are structured there are 3 commonalities to the two
federations. There is a formal 'division of powers' between two or more levels
of government, with neither level being able to unilaterally invade the powers
of the other(s). Written constitution' that list the powers of each level of
government, as well as describes the institutions of government. An
'independent judiciary' that is capable of reviewing the laws and regulations
of each level of government and voiding those that transgress the division of
powers.
Distribution
Of Powers In France
In a federal system, powers of
government are distributed between the centre state or regions.
Federal: The
federal constitution in principle reserves the areas of foreign relations, the
army, customs examinations and tariffs, value added taxes and the legislation
on currency, measure and weight, railways and communications to the
confederation.
Cantonal (based on
26 cantonal constitutions): On the other hand only the cantons (and some major
cities) do have armed police forces, run hospitals and universities (with the
exception of two federal institutes of technology). Legislation on public
schools is made by the cantons, resulting in 26 different education systems,
but the public schools are actually run by the communes, much like many other public
services (like water supply and garbage collection). The confederation, the
cantons and the communes do collect income taxes to finances their affairs.
Communal:
in a few small cantons and in some 2500 small villages reunions of all citizens
are held instead of cantonal and communal parliaments; local courts are usually
common to several communities
Distribution
Of Powers In Nigeria
The Federal: it
is concerns with the function of the Exclusive list and parts of the concurrent
list
The State
(36 states of the federation including Abuja the federal capital territory);it
is concern with the concurrent list on which both state and federal can
legislate on. However in the case conflict the opinion of the centre prevails
The Local
government area (about 774 local government areas of Nigeria)it involves in
activities of residual list.
Matters of national importance which
require uniformity of legislation and administration such as defense, foreign
affairs, coinage and currency, railway,
Post and telegraph, customs etc are
put under the control of the central government. While subjects of local
importance like medical relief, education, industries, law and order etc are
controlled by the state and local government.
Interactional agreements
The Cantons may enter into
agreements with each other and establish common organizations and institutions.
In particular, they may jointly undertake tasks of regional importance
together. Also in Nigeria we have the governor’s forum which is an association
of the 36 governors of the federation.
THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN FRANCE FEDERALISM AND THAT OF
NIGERIA
Revenue allocation
This relates to how the revenues available to the federation account
are allocated among the components of the federal system, viz, the federal,
states and local governments. This is called the vertical allocation of
revenue. On the complementary side is how the shares that belong to the states
and local governments are distributed among the 36 states and the 774 local
governments in the country. The latter is referred to as the horizontal
allocation of federation. In Nigeria the states and local government are almost
wholly dependent on the federal government for funding. This has a tremendous
negative impact on the operation of the Nigerian federal system and crippled
the component units of government. The is no generally accepted revenue
allocation formula in Nigeria, in terms of the organ responsible for sharing in
the country, there is a body called Federation Account Committee (FAC), which
meets monthly to allocate funds to the states and local governments for their
monthly use. What these levels of received is determined by the federal
government, thus making the local councils to lose their autonomy and
inter-dependent status. This is antithetic to the federal principles which the
constitution has emphasized.
In France, revenue allocation has been constitutionally determined. The
constitution made provisions for each level of government’s is financial
autonomy in such a way that each state is allowed to control revenue from its
own territory. However, the states have the mandate to pay a specified
percentage of the generated revenue into the federal coffers. In Nigeria the
federal government directly controls major sources of revenue such as oil
revenue, company taxes, custom and excise duties and wide ranging sources of
revenue. The states are left with proceeds from personal income tax, rents from
business premises, property rates, e.t.c the funds generated from these sources
are not enough for them to carry out their assigned responsibilities.
Presidency
Frnace does not have a full-time
president; the representational functions of a president are taken over by one
(or all) of the government members. Every year another member of the government
team is elected federal president in turn so that every government member
assumes this role once in seven years. While in Nigeria almost all the power of
the executive is vested on the president
The executive branch
The France Federal Council is a
seven-member executive council that heads the federal administration, operating
as a combination cabinet and collective presidency. Any Frnace citizen eligible
to be a member of the National Council can be elected. Candidates do not have
to register for the election, or to actually be members of the National
Council. The Federal Council is elected by the Federal Assembly for a four-year
term. The largely ceremonial President of the Confederation and the
Vice-President of Federal Council are elected by the Federal Assembly from
among the members of the Federal Council for one-year terms that run
concurrently.
In Nigerian the executive branch is divided
into Federal Ministries, headed by a minister appointed by the President, who
must include at least one member of each of the 36 states in his cabinet. The
President's appointments are confirmed by the Senate of Nigeria. In some cases
a Federal minister is responsible for more than one ministry (e.g. Environment
and Housing may be combined), and a minister may be assisted by one or more
ministers of State. Each ministry also has a Permanent Secretary, who is a
senior civil servant.
The ministries are responsible for
various parastatals (government-owned corporations) such as universities
(Education), National Broadcasting Commission (Information) and Nigerian
National Petroleum Corp (Petroleum). Other parastatals are the responsibility
of the Office of the Presidency, such as the Independent National Electoral
Commission, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Federal Civil
Service Commission.
The legislative system
Frnace has a bicameral parliament
called the Federal Assembly, made up of: the Council of States (46 seats -
members serve four-year terms) and the National Council (members are elected by
popular vote on a basis of proportional representation to serve four-year
terms)
The four parties that hold seats in
the Federal Council dominate both chambers of the Assembly; they currently hold
a supermajority of 171 seats (out of 200) on the National Council, plus every
seat in the Council of States except for three most hearings in the parliament
are open to everyone, including foreigners.
The National Assembly of Nigeria has
two chambers. The House of Representatives is presided over by the Speaker of
the House of Representatives. It has 360 members, elected for a four year term
in single-seat constituencies. The Senate is presided upon by the President of
the Senate. It has 109 members, elected for a four year term in 36 three-seat
constituencies (corresponding to the country's 36 states) and one seat in a
single-seat constituency (the federal capital, Abuja).
Judicial branch
In Nigeria the judicial branch consists mainly
of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, which is the highest court in the land, the
Court of Appeal, the High Courts, and other trial courts such as the Magistrates',
Customary, Sharia and some specialized courts, with the National Judicial
Council serving as an independent executive body, which insulates the judiciary
from the executive arm of government. The Supreme Court is presided upon by the
Chief Justice of Nigeria and thirteen associate justices, appointed by the
President of Nigeria on the recommendation of the National Judicial Council and
subject to confirmation by the Senate.
France has a Federal Supreme Court,
with judges elected for six-year terms by the Federal Assembly. The function of
the Federal Supreme Court is to hear appeals of cantonal courts or the
administrative rulings of the federal administration. There is in Frnace only
one judiciary which has the power to apply federal and cantonal law. (Though
divided into a Flemish and a Walloon section), the main pillar of the Frnace
judiciary are the cantonal courts organized by the cantons. The cantonal courts
have the power to interpret and to apply federal law as well as the respective
cantonal law. The Federal Supreme Court has mainly an appellate function with
regard to the cantonal courts.
Administration process
The federal administration of France
is the ensemble of agencies that constitute, together with the France Federal
Council, the executive branch of the France federal authorities. The
administration is charged with executing federal law and preparing draft laws
and policy for the Federal Council and the Federal Assembly.
The administration consists of seven
federal departments and the Federal Chancellery. The departments are roughly
equivalent to the ministries of other states, but their scope is generally
broader. Each department consists of several federal offices, which are headed
by a director, and of other agencies. The much smaller Federal Chancellery,
headed by the Federal Chancellor, operates as an eighth department in most
respects.
Nigerian federation is divided in 36 states and 1
territory*; Federal Capital Territory (Abuja)*, Abia, Adamawa, Akwa Ibom,
Anambra, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, Ekiti,
Enugu, Gombe, Imo, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Lagos,
Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Oyo, Plateau, Rivers, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe,
Zamfara
Each state is further divided into
Local Government Areas (LGAs). There are 774 LGAs in Nigeria. For each state
they are listed in the article for that state. Kano State has the largest
number of LGAs at 44, and Bayelsa State has the fewest at 9. The Federal
Capital Territory of Abuja has 6 LGAs. The Local Government Areas replaced the
Districts that were the third tier administrative unit under the British
government.
Laws
In France the cantons implement
federal law in accordance with the Federal Constitution and federal
legislation. In Nigerian the state and local government implement their
separate laws and during conflict the federal law supersedes all
Autonomy of the lower level
The Confederation respects the
autonomy of the Cantons. It leaves the Cantons sufficient tasks of their own
and respects their organizational autonomy. It shall leave the Cantons with
they have sufficient power to contribute towards ensuring that they have the
financial resources required to fulfillment of their task. In Nigeria more
power is vested at the centre the state and local autonomy is limited,
especially during the military regimes states were not allowed to implement
laws in the concurrent list without seeking the central authority. In Nigeria
the regions were stronger during the colonial period because they were larger
in structure and size and were also allowed to control up to 50% of their
generated revenue. The creation of state by the military regimes made the
regions smaller and weaker than before making it easy for the federal
government to have control over them.
AMENDMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION
The constitution of Nigeria is
written and rigid in nature. The implication of this is that the amendments
processes are of the constitutions are not only difficult but cumbersome and
rigorous. Such constitutional amendment requires at least, two third majorities
of the members of the house voting in the affirmative. But in Switzerland, the
constitution gives the people the final say on the constitutional laws. This is
usually done through the process of referendum unlike the Nigerian constitution
SUPREME COURT
In the Nigerian federation, there
exist a supreme court which interpreter the constitutions. It also reserves the
right or powers of judicial review. But in Switzerland federation, the Supreme
Court does not have such powers to declare any federal law unconstitutional as
obtains in Nigeria.
CONCLUSION
Although federations vary considerably
in how they are structured there are 3 commonalities to the two federations.
In a federal arrangement, there is a
constitutional provision for the autonomy of each level of government. Each
federating unit has the freedom to carry out its function without undue
influence or interference from the central government, just as local government
should equally be allowed to carry out their duties without influences from
states. These require that each level of government should have full control over
statutory financial allocation to enable it carry out its functions. Nigeria
federalism is just written on constitution but in practice is not a true
federal state because lower tiers of government suffer influence from the
center. Also during the military era, the military head of state created more
state from the regions in other to make the weaker and withdrew powers from the
regions to the centre and these decrees which were made during the military era
have continued to affect the Nigeria federal structure still date.
As we can see from above that
federalism is mostly used in states with different ethnical languages, culture
diversity, religion and minority groups in other to peace and unity.
REFERENCES
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Switzerland's federal government and administration
Political Rights in Switzerland
(www.admin.ch)
www.parlament.ch (official website
of Switzerland's federal parliament)
"Government Ministries in
Nigeria". Commonwealth of Nations. Retrieved 2009-12-21.
"Permanent Secretaries".
Office of the Head of Service of the Federation. Retrieved 2009-12-20.
"BOARDS OF PARASTATALS".
Office of the Head of Service of the Federation. Retrieved 2009-12-21.
"Court System in Nigeria".
The Beehive by One Economy Corporation. Retrieved July 17, 2012.
"Constitution". The
National Judicial Council. Retrieved July 17, 2012.