LEGISLATIVE-EXECUTIVE CONFLICT AND ITS IMPLICATIONS ON DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE IN NIGERIA’S FOURTH REPUBLIC (2011-2015)

Abstract

The relationship between the legislature and the executive is pivotal to any constitution and is one of the central characteristics of a model of government. This research examines the implications of executive-legislative conflicts in the Nigeria's Fourth Republic. Nigeria political development has been hampered by the conflictual political relationship existing between the key actors of policy making and policy execution. Thus the study, adopted a qualitative approach relies on secondary data, using the combination of analytical and descriptive method to assess the effect of legislative – executive conflicts on democratic governance in Nigeria. The study observes that the relationship have been twofold dimensional namely, collaborative executive-legislative relations and conflictive executive-legislative relations. However, the study focuses on the conflictual aspect of the relationship. It argues that one of the major factors threatening Nigeria's nascent democracy today is conflict between the executive and legislative arms of government. This nature of relationship is not only injurious to democratic consolidation, but also treacherous to political stability and development.  The inability of the legislature to meaningfully impact on policy process and perform its oversight role on the executive portends a reversal from democratic to quasi-dictatorial governance. It argues that the relationship that exists between the executive and legislature is very crucial for facilitating good governance in any democratic government. This makes cooperation preferable to conflict in executive-legislative relations. The research recommends that the quest for peace, security and good governance in Nigeria requires that the executive and legislature must as a matter of urgency synergize together to engineer the policy making and implementation process that will engender good governance. Also, the executive and legislature should deem it necessary to always adopt dialogue in resolving their differences instead of resulting to outright confrontation that usually deadlocks the policy making and implementation process. It concludes that the search for a harmonious relationship between the executive and the legislature is a continuous one and in every human relationship, there must always be reasons for disagreements.