CHARACTERISTICS OF FEDERATIONS

The following are some of the characteristics of a federation,

Separation of powers: governmental powers are shared between federal and state government according to the constitution.
Written and rigid constitution: a federation usually has a written and rigid constitution
Existence of bicamerical legislature: there are two houses at the central, the house of representations and the state.
Supremacy of constitution: the constitution is final activity in any other
The federal and state government derive their powers from the constitution
Every group in the country is recognised and represented
The supreme court: this settles disputes between various level of government (federal and state) and it gives the final interpretation of the constitution.
The autonomy of every post of the country is guaranteed by the constitution
The states of a federation has unequal human and material resources

PROBLEMS OF NIGERIA FEDERATION

The reliance sharing formula has been an object of controller since independence.
The military has ruled for about for decades, destabilizing various pillar of democracy and democratic values in the country.
Falsified census figures in part of the federation for political reasons.
Contiguous boundaries among regional areas
Ethnic loyalty by leaders which is a treat national unity
Ethnical base political parties which does not help in uniting the nation.
The domination of the majority or larger ethnic group.
Lack of federal characters in sharing resources and major political seat line chief judges and ministers

The local government get allocation from the federal account
The state government approve the annual budget of the local government as well as looking into (audit) the accounts of the local government
The state has the power to dissolve local government executive council
The federal government creates the state and local government areas. She can adjust boundaries or remove existing boundaries.
The state government and local government can help in implementing some of federal government policies like the industrial and educational polices

The federal government legislate on both exclusive concurrent list while the state legislate on concurrent and residual list.
The federal government has two legislative houses (senate and house of representative) while the state has one (the legislative council).
The federal government is headed by the president while the state is headed by the governor and the local government but the state cannot control the federal government.
The federal government has constitutional power to control the state but the state cannot control the federal government
The federal government can formulate policies for the whole country while the state and local government can formulate polices for themselves alone.

Mention 3 areas of differences among federal ,state and local governments.