Rethinking Democratic Accountability in Nigerian Federalism: An Original Institutional Framework

This dissertation develops an original institutional framework for democratic accountability in Nigerian federalism, addressing the theoretical gap between prevailing accountability frameworks designed for unitary parliamentary systems and the complex multi-level, multi-principal accountability relationships characterising Nigerian federal governance. The dissertation argues that existing accountability frameworks inadequately capture the principal multiplicity, inter-governmental accountability diffusion, and ethnic-religious segmentation distinctive to Nigerian federalism, leading to systematically misdiagnosed governance reform prescriptions. A theory-building methodology combining systematic literature synthesis, comparative institutional analysis of three federal systems in Sub-Saharan Africa, and primary qualitative research involving 65 in-depth interviews with constitutional scholars, legislators, civil society leaders, and senior bureaucrats across North West, South West, and South East geopolitical zones is employed. Document analysis of NASS committee reports, state assembly oversight records, and independent audit findings from 2019 to 2024 provides additional empirical grounding. The proposed Nigerian Federal Accountability Framework (NFAF) introduces three original theoretical constructs: accountability zone diffusion, principal plurality overload, and informal accountability substitution. The NFAF explains empirically how accountability gaps arise when principals multiply without corresponding institutional mechanisms to aggregate demands and resolve conflicts. The dissertation contributes a mid-range theory of democratic accountability applicable to African federal systems and offers constitutional reform recommendations addressing the identified structural gaps in Nigeria's 1999 Constitution. Keywords: democratic accountability, Nigerian federalism, institutional framework, constitutional reform, principal-agent theory.