This is reasonnable but not working. In most of cases, my experience unfortunately tels me that the "semi autonomous" will act as autonomous and will never accept any central power. But that can be discussed and argued.
Before the Civil War, Nigeria consisted of semi-autonomous regions. It worked pretty well then, and could work well in future. That is the only way to accommodate both Sharia and Evangelical Christianity within the same borders. The current system - an ostensibly "secular federal state" in which both Sharia and Evangelical Christians coexist, is bound to collapse under the weight of its contradictions.

If the "semi-autonomous" regions turn "autonomous", is that a bad thing? Why do we continue to maintain the fiction that Congo DRC is a single state, governed (or governable) from Kinshasa? Isn't Katanga province drifting towards autonomy (it even has more in common with Zambia than the rest of Congo DRC)? Why pretend that the Ivory Coast is still one country? Why insist that Cabinda is still part of Angola?

If these problems are not solved by pain-staking diplomacy, they will be solved through the deaths of millions. 2.5 million died in the Sudan before South Sudan was let go. 5 million or so have died in the Congo, yet the World doesn't get the message. How many millions dead in Nigeria and Ivory Coast will the World tolerate before it gets the message?

About employment and jobs... If you manage to take nepotism out of Africa than you are good, reall good!
It's kind of the ciment of politics in that continent.
Nepotism is an issue only when Government is the sole employer. For many Western firms like Coca-Cola, KFC etc, the major barrier to doing business is not nepotism, but the lack of infrastructure. The Chinese are tackling the lack of infrastructure head on in progressive nations like Kenya and Rwanda.