%0 Journal Article
%T Issues and Challenges of Nigerian Fiscal Federalism
%A Dr. S. Aigbepue
%A Barr. Ainabor Augustine E
%J Interdisciplinary Journal of Research in Business
%D 2011
%I Center for Research Promotion
%X Nigeria as a federation operates a fiscal arrangement that caters for the needs of the federating units. Today, federations are characterized by extensive intergovernmental relations in which federal, state and local government work together, seeking to identify policies on which all participants can agree. This can only be true if there is no financial subordination on the part of any of the levels of government. It means that neither the federal nor state or the local government in a true federation, should be dependent upon each other in performing the statutory duties and functions devolved upon it in a federal constitution. Since it is fundamentallyl true that the challenges of fiscal federalism is enormous in Nigeria, this paper attempts to look at these issues within the purview of Nigerian federal structure involving sharing of revenue from the federation account by the federating units, fiscal decentralization and the allocation of expenditure and tax-raising power among the federal, state and local government. The paper concludes by arguing that there is a prospect of a stable federation if anchored on arrangement rooted in equity, fairness and justice. That is the evolution of an equitable revenue formula that would be in the best long-term interest of a stable Nigerian federation.
%U http://www.idjrb.com/articlepdf/idjrb10n1p3.pdf