UNIT 2: EXECUTIVE - DEFINITION AND FUNCTIONS
considered, vetted and approved. At the state level, the Governor is the head of the state‟s executive council composed of commissioners. Otherwise called the cabinet, this body also formulates government policies at the state level and sees to their faithful implementation. This arrangement is also replicated at the local government where the chairman and his supervisory councilors take charge of the execution of government programmes at the third tier level of government.
The executive is often described as the most powerful, not necessarily the most important organ of government. For this reason, those who occupy executive positions may be tempted to be authoritarian, or at times, predatory simply because they control and deploy state funds and coercive forces. In many countries, the head and members of the executive arm of government are increasingly assuming
importance. In the first place, the head of executive at all level is often regarded as
the head, symbol and personification of government. The office he occupies is either described as the State House or government House. It is for this reason that the
White House, the resident of United States President, No. 10 Downing Street the office of the British Prime Minister and Aso Rock that of Nigeria‟s President are widely known and regarded as green zones.
Similarly, due to the importance attached to the functionaries of the executive branch of government, especially the head and his senior officers, their personal security including that of members of their immediate family is of utmost concern to the state. There are also protocol and scheduling officers attached to them to ensure that their daily activities and official assignments are routinely streamlined, timed and regulated to avoid mix-ups. All these steps are taken to surround the occupants of the executive arm, and the offices they occupy with dignity, since as it is said;
authority is increased by a show of dignity. The heads of executive arm of
government are also aware of this to the extent that some of them are always ready to flaunt, use or even misuse the privileges or prerogatives they enjoy. Furthermore, in less developed societies executive privileges are better known as incumbency power or advantages, which are often deployed for purposes other than those for which they were originally intended, especially in relations to the opposition
members, or perceived opponents. Though not entirely free from occasional misuse, leaders of more developed countries have demonstrated more restraint and
circumspection in the manner they use executive orders, which are meant to be rarely exercised without recourse to the legislature. But the extent to which the head of the executive seek to free himself from legislative control will depend on the type of executive that a country operates. This is the focus of the next section of this unit Self-Assessment Exercise 3.1
Explain the role of the Executive as an organ of government 3.3 Functions of the Executive Arm
It is important to stress here that the functions of the executive devolve primarily in the office of the president in a presidential system, or the office of the prime
minister in a parliamentary system of government, respectively. In Nigeria, for example, apart from expressly stating the functions of the President who is the chief executive of the country, and his vice, the 1999 Constitution did not elaborate on the functions of the executive as an organ of government. The President is to, among
other functions determine the general direction of domestic and foreign policies of the government of the federation and co-ordinate the activities of the vice president, ministers and the agencies of government in the discharge of their executive
responsibilities. From this sketchy provision, we can distil the following functions of the executive arm of government.
i) Providing policy making leadership in a government
The primarily function of the executive is to formulate and decide the policy direction for the state. In a democratic system, such policies are usually derived from the manifesto presented to the citizens during the elections and upon which the power was voted into office. While in office, it is the responsibility of the party in government to translate this blue print into concrete policies and programmes of the government of the day. During the Second Republic in Nigeria, for instance,
President Shehu Shagari at the federal level saw to the implementation of his party‟s housing and agricultural (Green Revolution) programmes. Similarly, in the states where the Unity Party of Nigeria was in control the chief executive of those states ensured the implementation of the party‟s four cardinal programmes. The Seven- Point Agenda is also the policy thrust of President Musa Yar‟Adua and Goodluck presidency because it was so promised during the electioneering campaign. This is however not to say that the government cannot change, or reshape a policy if the chief executive considers it necessary in view of changing realities, which may be different from what, obtains during the period of elections. For this reason policy evaluation, re-orientation and enrichment constitute additional responsibility of the executive of a state.
ii) Legislative Functions
The executive whether as a chief executive in a presidential system or in a dual executive, where power is shared between the ceremonial and substantive heads perform the following functions that fall within the legislative realm. The Chief executive in the United States or the monarch in Britain inaugurates the congress or summons the parliament after the periodic general elections. In Britain, he also dissolves the parliament after a vote of no confidence on a subsisting on or after a defeat at a general election to pave way for a new government. The chief executive or ceremonial head of state also gives assent to bills already passed by both houses of the congress or parliament before they can become law. He can also withhold assent if he is not satisfied with the content of a bill or aspects of it.
iii) Judicial Functions
The executive make appointments into judicial positions into offices such as those of the chief justice and other justices of the Supreme Court at the centre and judges at the states level. The executive also exercises the power of prerogative of mercy.
This is the power to grant pardon to a convicted person or an offender who is yet to be tried in a court of law, including the power to commute a death sentence into life imprisonment, or the substitution of a less serious form of punishment for a more severe one. The power to discontinue a case already being tried in a court of law, known as nolle prosequie (decision not to proceed with case) is also exercised by the Attorney-General at the instance and on behalf of the executive.
iv) Miscellaneous and Emergency Functions
The executive perform other functions like award of national honours to
distinguished citizens and foreigners who have made positive contributions to the affairs of a country. The exercise of emergency powers during civil wars or war with other nations, internal disturbances or during constitutional crises also falls within the purview of the executive arm. In the definition of what constitutes a state of public emergency the executives of modern governments exercise high degree of flexibility, which forms the basis of which they assume emergency powers. Indeed, as early as the First Republic in Nigeria there were controversies on the
justifications or not for the exercise of emergency powers by the federal government over the affairs of the former Western region in 1962. Similar reactions greeted the declarations of a state emergency in both Plateau and Ekiti states by the federal government during the reign of President Olusegun Obasanjo.
To make the discharge of these executive functions and responsibilities easier and more effective the Nigerian constitution also established some bodies that are meant to assist the chief executive of the country. They include the National Council of State, Federal Civil Service Commission, Federal Electoral Commission, Federal Judicial Service Commission, National Defence Council, National Economic Commission, National Population Commission, National Security Council and Police Service Commission. Some of these bodies are replicated at the state level, in addition to the State Council of Chiefs, which specifically fall under the residual powers of state governments.
Self-Assessment Exercise 3.3
Discuss the importance of policy leadership to the functions of the executive arm of government.