States and Local Government Creations in Nigeria: A Veritable Tool for the Economic Underdevelopment of the Minorities

Abstract

The creation of states and local governments anywhere in the world has been a veritable instrument to drive and achieve meaningful development and bring governance structure and processes closer to the people. It is indeed one of the models through which development could easily be fostered across all regions In Nigeria. This paper examines states' and local governments' creation in Nigeria to determine whether the practice has achieved its universal purpose or otherwise, especially as it affects the minorities and people of the Niger Delta. Employing historical research methods and using both primary and secondary data, as well as the political economy framework, the paper establishes that the practice of Nigeria has rather underdeveloped the minority and oil-bearing regions in Nigeria. The experiment was purely designed for political expediency at the time and It is important to note that state and local government creation in Nigeria seems to be a veritable tool to undermine and under-develop the minority ethnic groups whose natural resources (the black gold) are used to service the entire nation and develop Lagos, Abuja and other parts of the country, with minimal amounts left to service the area where these natural resources are extracted. This has led to a series of conflicts that are still raging to date, with the minorities of South-South Nigeria demanding justice and the control of their resources through the application of fiscal federalism. They concluded that state and local government creation in Nigeria, rather than being a tool for the development of the minorities, is designed to selfishly enrich the major ethnic groups and recommends amongst others fiscal federalism as a means of assuaging the fears of continuous economic under-dev opment of the minorities by the majority ethnic groups.