Abstract: There is no doubt that federalism has important ingredients for growing an international order for individual liberty and interstate peace as well as political and economic integration across national borders. Yet sharp disagreement characterizes the effect of federalism. What is not at issue in Africa is that two prominent African federations - Ethiopia and Nigeria—have demonstrated how not to grow such an international order. These African federations, which were deliberately designed to control individual action, have, unfortunately, paralyzed individual liberty, fueled interstate violence, and hindered political integration beyond state/provincial borders. The imposition of federalism in Ethiopia and Nigeria has not only failed to live up to the purported promises of federalism but has also run roughshod over pre-colonial African traditions that can and should inform the theory and practice of federalism. This article draws important lessons from how two pre-colonial self-generating orders among the Yoruba of Nigeria used polycentric values of interstate federalism and avoided provincial-central [or state-national] sovereignty and interprovincial violence as well as ensured individual liberty and political and economic integration beyond provincial borders.