CHAPTER ONE

1.1     BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Nigeria operates a federal system of government under which

system each tier of government has its legislative competence or

functions conferred on it as the case may be. It is significant to note

that Federalism in Nigeria dates back to 1954 when the country which

had hitherto been administered as a Unitary state was restructured

into three quasi-self governing and administered regions1.

It is equally noteworthy that shortly before and since the

independence of Nigeria in 1960, all the constitutions that have been

enacted have taken the pattern of federalism. Section 2(2) of the 1999

constitution also re-enacts the doctrine of federalism when it provides

that:

“Nigeria shall be a federation consisting of states and a federal capital territory”

However, there is no doubt that Nigerian federalism is anomalous in

practice. It is fraught with various phenomena that conflict with the universal

precepts and normative imperatives of federalism to the extent that the danger and

apprehension that the nation is susceptible to unitarism becomes heightened2.

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However, the focus of this thesis is not to appraise the entire

constituents of Nigerian federalism but only the aspect of it that

affects Uniform Personal Income

1.     Fajana O. – Three-and-a-half decades of fiscal federalism in Nigeria In: Elaigwu J.I and Akindele R.A (ed) Foundations of Nigerian Federalism 1960 – 1995, NCIR, Abuja (1996) p.105

2.     Kupola