Similarities Between South African Government And Nigeria Government

Comparative Government

Nigeria & South Africa

Critically compare and contrast the role of the executive and the legislature in the governance of Nigeria and South Africa

The South African and Nigerian governments have constitutions that define the three levels of government as being; the legislative, the executive and the judicial. In South Africa; these organs of state are bind by the Constitution as it is the most supreme law whereas in Nigeria the constitution is not the supreme law. These three organs of state are put in place in order to create a checks and balances system.

South Africa:

The South African executive is made up of the national cabinet and the provincial executive councils under these two categories are various individuals

Compared to South Africa, where the constitution is the most supreme law this differs in Nigeria because there is evidence to suggest that some civil leaders, the military do disobey the values/principles implemented in the constitution (Fashagba:2016). The Nigerian executive is referred to as the Federal Executive Council which consists of the president and deputy and ministers. The function of the Nigerian executive is to run the country, implement legislation and develop policies for the people. In Nigeria the president has imperial presidency (Isumonah 2012:44), he/she is the chief of state and head of government. The powers of the president are to appoint the cabinet from list made by the Senate, signing bills, calling a referendum and ability to pardon offenders etc. The Federal Executive Council /cabinet is made up of ministers, deputy president and the president as the head of this cabinet. The ministers are accountable to the National Assembly and conducting full reports to give to

Both countries have a constitution that clearly defines the three organs of state; however, in South Africa the constitution is regarded the most supreme law and everything that is executive or legislature must be in line or bided by the values of the constitution and creates no unfair exceptions for certain individuals or groups. Whereas in Nigeria the constitution is not applied universally as it has been stated that some persons within government or military have been known to simply disobey the constitution without consequences. The doctrine of the separation of powers is applied effectively in both countries as there are ranks of people such as deputy president, ministers etc with duties and responsibilities assigned to them to help with the riling of the country. The South African government’s strength may be seen in the core ability to improve from the country’s past and have a fair, equal party or persons to represent values of The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa 1996, a written document that applies the notion of equality among the people. In Nigeria this would be a weakness that lacks because of a civil role versus a military role; these are two different forms of leadership which means when a constitution is not supreme law. Both governments have scandals of corruption causes by specific individuals within government and it seems both the South