The Historical Development of Nigeria’s Federal Structure: From Regionalism to the 36-State Federation

This study traces the historical evolution of Nigeria's federal structure from the three-region federation established under the Lyttleton Constitution of 1954 to the current 36-state federation created through successive state creation exercises between 1963 and 1991. The transformation of Nigeria's federal architecture has been driven by a complex interplay of ethnic minority agitations, military political calculations, and demands for equitable access to federal resources, producing a federation whose structure continues to generate ongoing debate about efficiency, equity, and democratic legitimacy. Using a descriptive historical design, the study reviews constitutional conference records, state creation decrees, and political memoranda submitted to various constitutional review committees, supplemented by secondary literature published between 2020 and 2024. The Federalism Theory and the Political Development Framework provide the analytical lenses. Findings reveal that each round of state creation was motivated more by the desire to fragment ethnic minority agitations and reward political loyalties than by objective criteria of administrative viability or developmental capacity. The result is a federation characterised by structurally non-viable states heavily dependent on federal transfers. Keywords: Nigerian federalism, state creation, regionalism, federal structure, political development.