Asymmetry Revenue Allocations and its implications on Ethnic Militancy in Nigeria

Abstract

Extant literatures on revenue allocations in Nigeria show more concern on revenue allocation principle/sharing and the practice of true fiscal federalism. On that note, several alternatives have been proposed and will continue to be developed. Contrary however, this paper analyzes asymmetry revenue allocation and its implication on ethnic militancy in Nigeria using both Descriptive Statistics and Auto Regressive Distributive Lag. The results found that the long –run asymmetry between revenue and expenditure responsibilities of the sub-national governments have prevented them from delivering their constitutional responsibilities which have over time served as a fertile ground for the breeding of ethnic militancy. The paper therefore, submits that there is need to ensure matching revenue with expenditure responsibilities that will ensure that the sub national governments provide its constituencies needed public goods so as to reduce if not eliminate ethnic militancy.