Legislative and Executive Conflicts in Nigeria’s Presidential Democracy since the Fourth Republic (1999-2021)

Abstract

The work examines the legislative-executive conflicts in Nigeria’s presidential democracy in an exploratory manner since the inception of Nigeria’s fourth republic to date. The paper also undertake the study of the processes of the two (legislative and executive) arms in order to determine and interrogate the issues involved in their differences.

The work relies mainly on secondary data to elicite information and to run analysis for the discourse. Such data includes textbooks, journals, periodicals, news magazines, newspapers, etc.

The findings are that the relationships between the legislative and executive have not been all that cordial since the inauguration of Nigeria’s fourth republic. It is also discovered that political party differences, regional, ethnic and religious affiliations have fueled the differences.

The work concludes on a note of recommendations that there is a serious need for review of the 1999 constitution with the view of granting autonomy to the constituent units that make up the Nigerian state. The works also contextualizes the need for mutual respect, and underscore the sanctity of legislative and executive institutions as critical stakeholders in good governance.