Effects of legislature–executive conflict on budget and governance in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic

ABSTRACT

Legislature–executive impasse is one of the challenges Nigeria’s democracy has been facing since its transition back to civil rule on May 29, 1999. The polity has been witnessing conflicts between the legislature and the executive over budget matters. Despite certain provisions of the 1999 constitution aimed at rectifying some of the problems identified with legislature–executive relations in the previous Republics, the Fourth Republic also followed the confrontational and conflictual power relations between the executive and the legislature. This study seeks to look beyond a constitutional solution to manage the intermittent imbroglio between the legislature and the executive with a view to fostering good governance and development. The study relies on secondary data. The paper investigates the factors responsible for legislature–executive conflictual relations; and the effects of this impasse on budget, governance and development. It also examines the mechanisms for legislature–executive collaborative relations.

KEYWORDS:

• Executive
• legislative
• budget
• governance
• development

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Asimiyu Olalekan Murana

Asimiyu Olalekan Murana, PhD is the Acting Head, Department of Political Science, Summit University, Offa, Kwara State, Nigeria. His research area is Institutions of Government with special interest in Legislative Studies, Democratic Governance, and Public Administration.