THE POLITICS OF FEDERALISM IN NIGERIA

Until 1954, Nigeria operated as a colonial unitary state. In 1954, Nigeria adopted Federalism as mechanism for managing conflict among its heterogeneous population. Why did Nigerian’s political leaders adopt Federalism?
On October 1st, 1960 Nigerian became independent. How did the Nigeria federation operate? Why did the military intervene in politics, and why did all military regimes, (except one) adopt and amended or ‘warped’ form of Federalism?
What really happen between the end of the civil war in 1970 and May 1999 when a new Democratic Government Ascended to power in the fourth Republic? Most Nigerians had favored a strength central government in 1970, given the experiences of the 1960s. But by 1999, many Nigerians had begun to call for a National Conferences to assess the nature of the Nigerian federation. The complained emergence a politically and fiscally titanic central government which had virtually suffocating stranglehood on subnational states. What have been the main challenges of Nigeria Federation? To what extend have Nigerians being able to make adjustments in the federal politic between centripetal and centrifugal forces? What actually happen?