The Governmental Structure of Nigeria Essay

Instead of focusing on diversifying, the leaders of the country focus on gaining power and standing in the government. “Nigeria’s most daunting challenge lies in overcoming the severe divisions among its competing religious and ethnic groups” . Moreover, once they gain it, their problems do not end, since they must look over their back, never knowing how long they will hold on to the little power they have. Meanwhile, the common person suffers, as he is neglected by his government and must survive on his own. “The standard of living declined even further than before and external debts increased.” This neglect of the common man bodes ill for the government, as it is the common man who votes in the polls. However, the vote does very little, since corruption is rampant in Nigeria.

The separation of powers is a theory of government whereby political power is distributed among three branches of government; the legislature, the executive and the judiciary. The doctrine of the separation of powers embodies three basic principles; limited government, which means that the government’s power over its citizens is limited by the Bill of Rights. Secondly is the separation of personnel, meaning that no one person can hold office in separate branches of the government at the same time. And lastly, each branch of government keeps a watch over the other branches of government and in some cases can overrule it to prevent them from becoming too powerful.

The idea about separation of powers is established through the three branches of government. These three branches are legislative, executive, and judicial. Document B shows that each branch has their own specific powers. The legislative branch holds power regarding the Senate and House of Representatives. The executive branch is home of the President and deals with the congress. The judicial branch has control over the supreme court and appointing judges. The three branches of government fight against tyranny by ensuring that no one branch has too much power over the other

Separation of powers is the capability of the national government are divided into three distinct branches. The legislative branch has the power to make the laws, the executive branch can enforce laws, and the judiciary can determine if laws are broken (Doc. B). The different branches have their own powers to focus on, and can improve our country by only focusing to the powers that they were appointed to. This guards against tyranny by making sure that one branch does not have more power than the other. It prevents the person or group from doing whatever they want.

”Liberty required that the three great department of power should be separate and distinct.” The Legislative, Executive,and Judiciary are the three powers of department. By separating the powers provides a safeguard by ensuring all the government powers do not fall into the hands of a group or a single person. Each power has their own rules, running style, and different types of power to rule. Therefore Separating the Powers provides a stable society and country.

Separation of powers is a principle of the U.S. government, where powers and responsibilities are divided by the legislative branch, executive branch, and judicial branch. Each branch may choose to prevent action of the other branches through the system of checks and balances. The framers of the Constitution designed this system to make sure that no branch would gain too much power and that issues of public policy and welfare would be given consideration before any action was taken. The concept of Separation of Powers is included in the Constitution in the 1st Article, in the 2nd Article, and in the 3rd Article. The Legislative is composed of the House and Senate, which is set up in Article 1. The Executive includes of the President, Vice-President, and the departments, which is set up in Article 2. The Judicial is composed of the federal courts and the Supreme Court, which is set up in Article 3. The different branches of government have different responsibilities. In the Executive branch they veto power over all bills, makes treaties, and ensures all laws are carried out. In the Legislature branch they pass all federal laws, establish all lower federal courts, they can override a Presidential veto and can impeach the President. In the Judicial branch they have the power to try federal cases and interpret the laws. As I continue in my paper I will discuss the different concepts that

There would be no improvement in the country if there was no democracy. I think that is it very important to have one because a country cannot thrive if others opinions are not adhered. Democracy is really what you put into it

America and Nigeria are separated into three political powers. One of the three branches is called the judicial branch, this branch helps interpret laws, settle disputes, and hearing civil cases. The next branch is called the legislative branch, this branch writes, debates, and pass laws. Lastly the executive branch is responsible for carrying out laws the key member of this branch is the president. Furthermore, to insure the government from overpowering itself citizens in both America and Nigeria have political equality through voting. In both countries citizens must be at least 18 years of age to be eligible to vote. This gives the people liberty of speech and self-expression; it also keeps the separation of powers through checks and balances.

The Republic of Niger, a poor, landlocked country, located in the heart of Sub-Saharan West Africa. Niger has seen its fair share of change throughout the decades; moving away from the control of the French Parliament in 1960, Niger formally declared its independence. Despite this bold act of independence, Niger would not see its first steps towards democracy until the early 1990’s, when they held their first open election as a free state. However, even with the empowerment of the people in a democratic government, Niger has seen itself nearly torn apart as a result constant coups, that have occurred as recently as 2010. Such instability has led to incredulous amounts of corruption and poverty, within the Niger government. This lack of stability and constant turnover in government, has been a driving factor behind the lack of resources available for education in Niger.

The first was the weak sense of nationalism caused by all the ethnic groups where religion played a major part of the division. The main three ethnicities in Nigeria are Hausa-Fulani, Yoruba, and Igbo; the former is Muslim while the two latter are Christians. The second cause mentioned was the “divide and rule” which was a British tactic to employ ethnic groups against one another, and thus “helped ensure that ethnicity would be the main line of political cleavage after Nigeria became an independent country.” The third cause is the personal rule system based on “big men” and what this means is that Nigerian’s who worked for the British used their personal relationships to gain power and wealth, and in a certain way it is still used today in the Nigerian government. The fourth devastating cause was the “creation of an increasingly active and interventionist state during WWII and after until its independence in 1960, but that opened the doors to patronage, which would be used to gain political power and wealth. The past reveals the problems Nigeria has had for several decades, some of which have not disappeared but seem to get progressively worse. (CITATION)

Before we begin, let’s take a look at the country and its environs. Nigeria a former British Colony, located in the western part of Africa, it shares borders with Benin, Cameroun, and Niger. A growing population of 150million, labour force of 51million (70% Agriculture, 10% industry and 20% service), urbanisation is less than 40%, GDP is over $300billion, Per capita income is $2300. Nigeria is blessed with different cultures, languages and ethnic groups (252 in total); this was due to the colonization of the British in the early 19th century (Columbia Encyclopaedia). The British amalgamated its protectorates in 1914 to enable stable control and governance which made them create one Nation of Nigeria formed from all the groups, community and empires around the Niger area under their control. Nigeria had her independence on the 1st of October 1960 and since then various civil wars, political and religious unrest in the country to share power and resources amicably.

     Nigeria has been a country in political turmoil for a long time. The country was created in 1914 under British colonial rule and at that time it was considered a protectorate. It was not until 1960 that Nigeria received independence from the United Kingdom. One of Nigeria's problems politically is that it has over three hundred different ethnic groups. The three largest of these are the Hausa-Fulani, Igbo, and Yoruba. At the time of the independence of Nigeria it was split up into three states with each state being under the control of one of the major ethnic groups. The natural resources of the other 297 ethnic groups were exploited for the major three groups,

When the Constitution was written, the ultimate goal of the Founding Fathers was to prevent tyranny and oppressive government. In order to achieve this remarkable goal, the Founders made the decision to adopt the concept of Separation of Powers. In the Constitution, Separation of Powers is essentially the distribution of power among the three government branches: the legislative, the executive, and the judicial. Despite how is has changed and grown, the concept of Separation of Powers continues to be just as important as it was when the Founders wrote the Constitution because of its raised relevance due to current issues.

Corruption can be defined as the use of entrusted power to accumulate public wealthy for personal benefit. Corruption is not peculiar to any country, continent or state; it is sure a global issue which is an endemic to all government all over the world. However, corruption is prevalent in the Niger delta region of Nigeria; public officers in this oil producing state of Nigeria are corrupt. Consequently, it has defied the Niger delta from developing politically and economically which has left the states reputation in a mess. Radicalization of youths, abject poverty and -political instability are the three leading effects of corruption in the Niger delta region of Nigeria.

Governments perform three functions namely executive, judicial and legislative functions. The role of separation of powers involves the diffusion rather than concentration of powers within the state. Thus, these branches should be separate, unique and equal. The underlying principle of the separation of powers is that individuals have the potential to harm others, and this can become a reality when power is concentrated in one person, faction, or institution. However, if the branches were completely separate it would be unworkable since Parliament is