scholarly journals Assessment of Legislature-Executive Pattern of Relations in Nigeria’s Democratic Governance of the Fourth Republic: Prospects and Challenges

Author(s):  
Victor Vincent Okpe ◽  
Muhammad Fuad Othman

This study examined legislature-executive pattern of relations in the Nigeria’s democratic governance of the Fourth Republic and its implication on good governance. To realize the above aim, the study relied on descriptive qualitative method and separation of power theory. It also relied on secondary data which included journal articles, textbooks, executive-legislature documents and the 1999 Constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria. The study upon conclusion revealed that legislature-executive pattern of relations in Nigeria since the return of the Fourth Republic in 1999 had been more at loggerheads and crisis-ridden. It also revealed that this pattern of relations between the institutions, on several instances, had only succeeded in holding back good governance and service delivery to Nigerians. Their crises often overheated the polity, resulting into political instability, delay in the passing of bills and national budget among others. Based on the available revelations above, the study concluded that better relations, democratic consolidation and good governance can only be achieved when the executive and the legislature promote and adhere to the separation of power principles. They must maintain their constitutional jurisdiction to promote an enduring democratic practice, political stability and full representation of the people. The study will be relevant to the institutions, the public, and researchers alike. Further study can also be conducted on executive-judiciary relations under the Fourth Republic.

2012 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kehinde David Adejuwon

The public sector in Nigeria is irrefutably beset with gross  incompetence and ineffective management. Perplexing difficulties endure in the Nigerian public sector in spite of a number of reform programmes that have been designed to enhance efficient and effective service delivery for almost two decades. The fact that public service has failed dismally to achieve its laudable objectives is the reason for the vote of no confidence passed on its administrators by majority of the Nigerian populace. The article examines the dilemma of accountability and good governance in Nigeria and demonstrates that the critical point in achieving meaningful developments in the country intrinsically lay with improved service delivery in the public sector. The basic reason why the public service has become the scorn of the people is because for too long, both the government and public servants have paid lip service to the crucial issue of effective and efficient service delivery. The article argues that improved service delivery will improve both the performance and the image of public service and re-awaken the citizens’ interest and trust in them to do business with public servants. It suggests that  in order to bring sanity back to the Nigerian Public Service,  all unprofessional tendencies such as ethnicity bias and nepotism in appointments and promotions, lack of security of tenure of office, and appointment of non-career public servants into key positions in the public service must stop. Also,  effective service delivery must be tailored to the circumstances of Nigeria. The study made use of secondary data obtained from various sources. It therefore concludes that without a reawakening of the culture of accountability and transparency lost over the years, the trusting relationship needed to forge between the government and the governed for the actualization of good governance will not materialize.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1199
Author(s):  
Yuwono Prianto ◽  
Marian Marian ◽  
Stella Stella

The Covid-19 pandemic has had a broad impact, especially on the Indonesian economy. All aspects are affected, especially the declining local revenue (PAD). PAD is one of the elements that make up the APBD. In the midst of an economic crisis like today, there are still regional officials who actually experience a social crisis and are inhumane so that they misuse APBD funds. There are regional officials in Jember who receive funeral fees for residents who died due to covid-19, which is a form of legalized corruption. There is also a member of the Tangerang City DPRD who prepares a regional budget for official clothes at fantastic prices.By looking at the cases above, this article was created to analyze the handling of misuse of APBD and legal steps that can be used to handle cases of misuse of APBD by public officials during the covid-19 pandemic. This study uses normative legal research methods, supported by secondary data that includes three legal materials, namely laws and regulations related to the misuse of APBD by public officials as primary legal materials, secondary legal materials (consisting of articles, books, and so on), and tertiary legal material (in the form of a dictionary). This research is descriptive and conducted with a qualitative approach/paradigm. The data is processed and analyzed qualitatively and then narrated in writing. The handling of misuse of the APBD by public officials is handled in different ways, some are handled according to the law, some are referred to as mistakes in making the APBD draft. Ethically and according to the general principles of good governance, all forms of abuse do not meet the elements of good governance, even though in formal jurisprudence the policy concerned is categorized as legal. However, from the point of view of morality, this wisdom has lost its spirit.Re-actualization as a noble value needs to be carried out as stated in the preamble to the 1945 Constitution, local wisdom, religious teachings, decency and propriety. Public officials also need to build consensus and commitment to achieve equitable welfare and social justice for the people.On the other hand, the community also needs to be more critical and selective in choosing regional heads and representatives of the people and the community needs to supervise the public officials they have chosen. Pandemi Covid-19 telah memberi dampak yang luas terutama pada sektor perekonomian negara Indonesia. Semua aspek terdampak terlebih pada pendapatan asli daerah (PAD) yang menurun. PAD merupakan salah satu unsur yang membentuk APBD. Di tengah krisis ekonom seperti sekarang ini masih ada pejabat daerah yang justru mengalami krisis sosial dan tidak berperikemanusiaan sehingga mereka menyalahgunakan dana APBD. Ada pejabat daerah di Jember yang menerima honor pemakaman warga yang meninggal karena Covid-19, dimana hal ini menjadi suatu bentuk pidana korupsi yang dilegalkan. Ada pula anggota DPRD kota Tangerang yang menyusun anggaran daerah untuk baju dinas dengan harga yang fantastis.Dengan melihat kasus di atas maka artikel ini dibuat untuk menganalisa penanganan penyalahgunaan APBD serta langkah-langkah hukum yang bisa digunakan untuk menangani kasus penyalahgunaan APBD oleh para pejabat publik saat pandemi Covid-19.Penelitian ini menggunakan metode penelitian hukum normatif,dengan didukung data sekunder yang mencakup tiga bahan hukum, yaitu peraturan perundang-undangan terkait penyalahgunaan APBD oleh pejabat publik sebagai bahan hukum primer, bahan hukum sekunder (yang terdiri atas artikel,buku, dan sebagainya), serta bahan hukum tertier (berupa kamus). Penelitian ini bersifat deskriptif dan dilakukan dengan pendekatan/paradigma kualitatif. Data diolah dan dianalisis secara kualitatif lalu dinarasikan secara tertulis. Penanganan penyalahgunaan APBD oleh para pejabat publik ditangani dengan cara yang berbeda-beda, ada yang ditangani menurut hukum, ada pula yang disebut sebagai kekeliruan dalam pembuatan rancangan APBD. Secara etis dan menurut asas-asas umum pemerintahan yang baik, segala bentuk penyalahgunaan tersebut tidak memenuhi unsur-unsur penyelenggaraan pemerintahan yang baik, walaupun secara yuris formal kebijakan yang bersangkutan dikategorikan sebagai sesuatu yang legal. Namun demikian dari sisi moralitas kebijaksanaan tersebut sudah kehilangan ruh nya. Reaktualisasi sebagai nilai luhur perlu untuk dilakukan sebagaimana tertuang dalam pembukaan UUD 1945, kerifan lokal, ajaran agama, kesusilaan dan kepatutan. Pejabat publik juga perlu membangun konsensus dan komitmen untuk mewujudkan kesejahteraan dan keadilan sosial yang merata bagi masyarakatnya.Di lain pihak masyarakat pun perlu lebih kritis dan selektif dalam memilih kepala daerah dan wakil rakyat serta masyarakat perlu melakukan pengawasan pada para pejabat publik yang telah mereka pilih itu. 


2018 ◽  
pp. 65-78
Author(s):  
L.M. Singhvi

This chapter is based on different aspects of working of the public governance system in India as well as certain measures to improve the quality of the democratic governance system in the country. Good governance is a constitutional right of the people of India, states Dr Singhvi in his oration. Dr Singhvi was a great advocate of good governance and decentralization. He believed that small states are vehicles of good governance in the country. We have finally opted out of what was derisively called the Hindu rate of growth. We have a vision 2020, a vision of growth and strength, but will our democratic governance deliver on that vision? If our pravasis could do it in other countries why can we in partnership with them and the entrepreneurs around the world do it in India?


2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tarunabh Khaitan

AbstractMany concerned citizens, including judges, bureaucrats, politicians, activists, journalists, and academics, have been claiming that Indian democracy has been imperilled under the premiership of Narendra Modi, which began in 2014. To examine this claim, the Article sets up an analytic framework for accountability mechanisms liberal democratic constitutions put in place to provide a check on the political executive. The assumption is that only if this framework is dismantled in a systemic manner can we claim that democracy itself is in peril. This framework helps distinguish between actions that one may disagree with ideologically but are nonetheless permitted by an elected government, from actions that strike at the heart of liberal democratic constitutionalism. Liberal democratic constitutions typically adopt three ways of making accountability demands on the political executive: vertically, by demanding electoral accountability to the people; horizontally, by subjecting it to accountability demands of other state institutions like the judiciary and fourth branch institutions; and diagonally, by requiring discursive accountability by the media, the academy, and civil society. This framework assures democracy over time – i.e. it guarantees democratic governance not only to the people today, but to all future peoples of India. Each elected government has the mandate to implement its policies over a wide range of matters. However, seeking to entrench the ruling party’s stranglehold on power in ways that are inimical to the continued operation of democracy cannot be one of them. The Article finds that the first Modi government in power between 2014 and 2019 did indeed seek to undermine each of these three strands of executive accountability. Unlike the assault on democratic norms during India Gandhi’s Emergency in the 1970s, there is little evidence of a direct or full-frontal attack during this period. The Bharatiya Janata Party government’s mode of operation was subtle, indirect, and incremental, but also systemic. Hence, the Article characterizes the phenomenon as “killing a constitution by a thousand cuts.” The incremental assaults on democratic governance were typically justified by a combination of a managerial rhetoric of efficiency and good governance (made plausible by the undeniable imperfection of our institutions) and a divisive rhetoric of hyper-nationalism (which brands political opponents of the party as traitors of the state). Since its resounding victory in the 2019 general elections, the Modi government appears to have moved into consolidation mode. No longer constrained by the demands of coalition partners, early signs suggest that it may abandon the incrementalist approach for a more direct assault on democratic constitutionalism.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 28
Author(s):  
Kunle Awotokun ◽  
Olu Okotoni

The Year 2019 is very significant in the history of party politics in Nigeria. It marked a two decade of uninterrupted democratic regimes culminating in violent-free transition of political power from the defeated ruling political party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to the opposition Party-All Progressive Congress (APC). The cut-throat rivalries among the political parties, as represented in the Executive and legislature, have been responsible for the political instability of the previous republics. What has been responsible for the relative calm in the political space of Nigeria? How has political elites responded to the issue of governance since the inception of Nigeria’s Fourth Republic? How can the Nigerian state build and improve on the current political climate? These and other issues are what the paper has addressed. The work relied contextually on secondary data for appropriate information germane to the work. The findings and analyses will benefit from prognosis that would be of immense value only not to Nigeria, but further implications for other African countries faced with similar political scenario.


Author(s):  
Henry Tam

This chapter provides a critical introduction to the problem of disengagement between governments and citizens. It looks at different arguments for reforming the scope and approach adopted by the state and explains why the way forward has to be through more effective state-citizen cooperation. It also gives a general outline of the three parts of the book. The first part examines the theoretical background and recent development of state-citizen cooperation to find out why more attention should be given to advance it; how its impact should be judged; and what makes it distinctive and complementary to other proposals on improving democratic governance. The second part reviews policies and strategies that have been tried out in different parts of the world to enable citizens and state institutions to work together in an informed and collaborative manner in defining and pursuing the public good. The final part considers how various underlying barriers to effective state-citizen cooperation can be overcome, with reference to specific case examples.


2018 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 09024
Author(s):  
Aju Putrijanti

Environment is important in human life. Conflict of interest comes between development of economy sector, citizenship needs and Governance, as it becomes completely difficult to analyze. The environment’s lawsuit is increase from the beginning of the Court established. The duty of Administrative Court are to investigate, decide and settle administrative disputes. The Governance has to pay attention before issuing the Government’s decree by put principle of good governance as priority. The issue in this paper is strengthening the role of Administrative Court to maintain the environment reuse by settle environment disputes based on the importance of environment. The administrative decisions in environment field may cause a loss or damage for the people. When the public officer did not put the appreciation to the reuse of environment and principle of good governance, it will become problems. The decision should be environmentally friendly. There should be certified judge to settle the dispute. The method of this research by examines the Judge’s verdict in environment disputes, and its relation with regulations and the newest issues. The conclusion is increase the role of the Administrative Court to maintain the environment by law enforcement through settle environment disputes.


Author(s):  
Apu Deb ◽  
Masum Alam ◽  
Mohammad Jewel Islam ◽  
Muhammad Muklisur Rahman

Bangladesh is a populated country and most of the people live below the poverty line. After the independence of Bangladesh in 1980s safety net programmes has been adopted to reduce poverty from Bangladesh. At present 30 social safety net programmes are now operation in Bangladesh. The objective of the study is to find challenges ahead to implement Social Safety Net (SSN) programmes that initiated to reduce poverty at rural areas specially. The article is based on content analysis method and secondary data has been used to conduct the study. The study found that there is various weakness in social safety net policies. There is lack of integration and coordination among different safety net programmes and providers. Political stability is one of the great obstacle to fulfill the ultimate goal of safety net programmes. The extent, nature and mechanism of safety net programs change with the change of government. Besides this, corruption, shortage of budget etc hinder the implementation of safety net programmes. However, high political commitment, increase allocation, better targeting beneficiary, involvement of NGOs, civil society, monitoring and overseeing, reduction of corruption should be ensured.  


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 176
Author(s):  
Rojabi Azhargany

Da'wah regarding Islamic values needs to be done in the community. Including, preaching about the Islamic values contained in the views that are being discussed in the public sphere, including about Human Rights (HAM). Democratic governance requires the existence of good governance, human rights and democracy. Obtaining the standards of democratic governance is needed  by  Indonesia to be internationally  accepted.  Nonetheless, Indonesia's record on human rights  leads to the understanding  that  this country has to pay highly attention  on human rights. Five basic rights in maqashid sharia (kulliyatul khoms) as important basic ideas to be elaborated into values ​​that are included in the effort to realize good governance. Keywords:  Da’wah, good  governance, human  rights, kulliyatul khoms


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