LITERATURE REVIEW
Concept of Intergovernmental Relations.
Intergovernmental relation is an important body of activities or interactions occurring between governmental units of all types and levels within a government system (Elazar 2014).
According to Cameron (2004), the operation and practice of IGR may differ along the following lines, the degree of formal institutionalization. the extent at which are decision-making in character, and the degree of transparency that exist in their operations. He reters to intergovernmental relations as the geographical division of powers among the various spheres of government in the nation-state. He goes further to state that the division of powers implies that each structure has a unique and independent role to play in the intergovernmental domain.
Basically, IGR refers to the communication of orders of government in a federation; it assumes the need for interdependence among or between the orders of government. However, the pattern of IGR varies markedly among federal countries (Simeon, 2004). Federalism is a result ofa contract or agreement among the federating units, and the coordination among them is expedient for the smooth running of the federation. Federalism reflects the characteristics of a system that is a dynamic whole and made up of various parts. For efficiency and viability, each and every part must work coordinately, otherwise, the system collapses; this is true of a federation. No component part should work at cross purpose against the idea of federalism. Thus, for coordination to exist, interrelationship among the federating units is a necessity among the three levels of government of federations including Nigeria.
The term "intergovernmental relations" is commonly used to refer to relations between central, regional and local governments, as well as governments between any one sphere (level), that facilitate the attainment of common goals through co-operation (Opeskin, 2008). Used in this sense., mechanisms for intergovernmental relations may be seen as employing consensual tools for the mutual benefit of the constituent units of the state.
For Van der Waldt and Du Toit (2011), intergovernmental relations refer to the mutual relations and interactions between government institutions at horizontal and vertical levels, This is line with Thornhill (2012) definition that "intergovernmental relations consist of all the actions and transactions of politicians and officials in national, sub-national units of government and organs of the state".
To Anderson, intergovernmental relation is human being "clothed with office" who is real determinant of what the relations between the units of government will be. In other words, there are no intergovernmental relations, there are only relations among the public officials in different governmental units. Individual interaction among the public officials is at the care of intergovernmental relations. Therefore, the concept of intergovernmental relations necessarily has to be formulated, largely in terms of human relations and human behavior. These indicate that there are no intergovernmental relations, there are only relations among officials who govern different units. The individual action and attitude s of public officials are at the core of intergovernmental relations (Anderson, 2010).
According to Wright (2009), Intergovernmental relation is concerned with all permutations and combinations of relations among units of government. Implicit in the concept of intergovernmental relations deal with relations as viewed by Deil are the following notions:
(I) Intergovernmental relations give enough attention to the role played by public officials ranging from those politically to the permanent elected or appointed to the
permanent officials.
(II) Intergovernmental relation is a policy component. It focuses less on static laws and status and more on economic and political complexities intergovernmental relations are an adequate mechanism for coping with rapid social and technological changes.
(III) Intergovernmental relations deal with relations among officials in the different levels government. Although, the rules, laws and policies guiding operation in the federal system are embodied in the various documents. The dynamic of these are the hunan relationship arising from the operation of inters-governmental activities.
(IV) Intergovernmental relations are concerned with the day to day contacts resulting from the activities of government officials. It is not as static as the law court decisions and formal agreement.
He believes that intergovernmental relation features prominently in federal system.
Oladoyin (2008) argued that intergovernmental relations can be defined as the interactions that take place among the different levels of government within a state; usually the concept is associated with state having a federal administrative system where the relationship between the federal, central or national government and major sub-national unit (province, region or state) are formally spelt out in the constitution and any re-arrangement must be through a constitutional amendment involving both levels of government. Other feature of intergovernmental relations is that all public officials councilors, local government chairmen, commissioners, ministers, presidents, senators, Governors participate in interaction.
Intergovernmental Relations in Nigeria
In all federations, the need for intergovernmental relations has become even more pressing, as many issues of governance transcend a single tier of government. Unfortunately in the dynamics of Nigeria's federation, intergovernmental relations have been low. The big question is how to establish intergovernmental relations to cut out duplications and wastage, and to ensure greater efficiency in the delivery services. The National Economic Council provided a forum for federal and state leaders to discuss the framework for new intergovernmental relations between state and local governments for effective service delivery. The challenge is to ensure a more efficient delivery services for poverty alleviation (Elaigwu, 2007).
As a federal state, Nigeria has three tiers of government (federal, state and local) whose
intergovernmental relations (which include political, financial, judicial and administrative) are mainly established by the constitution. Each tier is required to operate within its area of jurisdiction, and any action to the contrary is null and void to the extent of its inconsistency with the law. This is meant to guarantee the autonomy of each tier. Intetgovernmental relations may he defined as "the Complex pattern of interactions, co-operations and inter-dependence between at least two or more levels of government" (Obunna, 2016). IGR can also be seen as "important interactions occurring between governmental institutions of all types and in all spheres". (Anderson, 2010). It exists in all types of state but is more pronounced, complex, controversial and contentious in federal states. The level of development in a given state tends to be determined by the quality of its intergovernmental relations.
In Nigeria federal system, a complete analysis of intergovernmental relations covers six
classes of relations:
1. Federal-State relations
2. Federal-state-Iocal reltions
3. Federal-local relations
4. State local relations
5. Inter State relations
6. Inter Local relations.
Nigeria has practiced the 3 models of IGR identified by Wright (2009). Nigeria practiced a coordinated or separated authority between 1954 and 1966, inclusive authority between in 1966-1979 and 1983-1999, and overlapping model was envisaged under both 1979 and 1999 constitution.
The intergovernmental relations in the 1999 constitution emanated from the 1979 constitution. The constitution failed to pass through the normal-constitutional making process as it was drafted in hurry. The constitution retained the provisions of the 1979 constitution with some amendments regarding intergovernmental relations, the 1999 constitution anticipates relationships among 811 government units, that is one central government, 36 states and 744 local governments (which the inclusion of those at the Federal Capital Territory).
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