IMPROVING EXECUTIVE – LEGISLATIVE RELATIONSHIP IN NIGERIA DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE: CHALLENGES AND REMEDIES

Abstract

This study critically interrogated the root causes, challenges and remedies for Executive – Legislative conflicts in democratic governance in Nigeria. The study relied heavily on secondary data from in-depth desk review of books, journals, magazines, government documents, internet publications, newspapers etc. Also, the study made use of primary data from interview of key stakeholders in Nigeria Politics such as: the executive, the legislature, the judiciary, leaders of political parties and pro-democracy Organizations. The essence of the interview is to complement and authenticate some of the views previously expressed by the key stakeholders which were documented in the various sources of the secondary data utilized for this study collected from the field work. Since the data collected for the study is qualitative in nature, content analysis was adopted as the method for data analyses. Also, the Role conflict theory was adopted as the theoretical frame work of analysis which equally guided the study in the collection of relevant data and formulation of the interview questions for the political stakeholders in Nigerian Politics. The result of the findings from the content analysis of the secondary and primary data collected reveal the following areas as the major sources of conflicts in the executive – legislative relationship in the democratic governance in Nigeria namely: Violations of Constitutional provisions by the executive and legislature; Lack of respect for the rule of law and the principles of separation of powers; Management of Public funds especially in the area of the screening and approval of Budget; Performance of oversight functions; performance of Law making function by the legislature such as the passage of the Electoral Act bill 2018 and the Veto by the President; Appointment and ratification of key government functionaries such as the refusal of the legislature to confirm Mr. Magu, the former Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), boss in 2016 and 2017 respectively etc. Based on the main findings of the study, the following Major recommendations were made as remedies and panacea for improving the executive – legislative relationship in the democratic governance in Nigeria viz:- Both organs of governance should respect the rule of law/separation of powers and consult regularly in the area of disagreement; Both organs should see the supremacy of constitution as uppermost in the discharge of their respective roles, and appreciate that the essence of constitutional provisions is to ensure good governance through their independent and co-operative roles; open up effective communication channels for uninterrupted information flow to promote mutual understanding and cooperation between the two organs; Dialogue and regular meetings by both organs of governance should be institutionalized and Financial autonomy for the legislature.