On PMB’s Executive Order

Sadiq Muritala Adewale

SIR: Nigerians recently woke up to the breaking news of the presidential Executive Order No. 10 of 2020 on the implementation of financial autonomy for state legislature and judiciary.

Unfortunately, financial autonomy which is a key element guiding the revered democratic principle suffered lack of true implementation in the states where the legislature and its judicial counterpart depended on the executive for their allocations.

At the national level, the practice of financial autonomy among the three arms of government had fair implementation.

But at the state levels, the legislature and judiciary were firmly tied to the apron strings of governors who called the shots on crucial issues such as the emergence of the leadership and political comportment of their members.

This riddled principle oftentimes could not enable the state legislatures to exercise their constitutional powers of independent oversight on the activities of the executive, especially in their financial undertakings.

Also, they could not investigate issues or sanction errant governors. Similarly, the judiciary were largely crippled, and many governors often had the guts to lock up the courts.

Consequently, most state Houses of Assembly were seen as mere rubber stamps to state governors, which basically does not augur well for the nation’s democracy.

Read Also: How Executive Order 10 will operate, by Enang

Fundamentally, the principle of separation of powers which Nigeria’s previous and present democratic arrangements are anchored on, suggests that governance of the state should not fall solely under one organ of the state but on the three organs of the executive, legislature and judiciary.

The idea behind this is that if liberty and freedom were to be, the three branches of government must be separated and entrusted in different people without any undue encroachment.

Therefore, it is expected that with the full implantation of the new executive order, the state Houses of Assembly and judiciary will go a long way to deepen democracy and enhance governance across the county.

The states Houses of Assembly and judiciary are now challenged to wake up to their full constitutional responsibilities.

This development is primarily expected to restore the law and give practical affirmation to the globally acclaimed and centuries-entrenched principles of separation of powers which is a blueprint of democratic governance.

The concept of checks and balances, which has been more effective at the federal level will now come to play at the lower levels. This should enable the people to be more effectively represented and good governance strengthened.

We expect the overall impact would lead to the emergence of much stronger institutions of government, greater mutual respect for one another among the three arms, and the deepening of the nation’s democratic culture.

• Sadiq Muritala Adewale, hondotspeaker171@gmail.com