….To Launch Advocacy Campaign for Institutional Accountability
BudgIT, a leading civic-tech organisation advocating for transparency and accountability in Nigeria’s public finance and OrderPaper, one of Nigeria’s independent parliamentary monitoring organisation and policy think tank, have expressed concern over the weakening of Nigeria’s separation of powers, as fusion of powers between the three arms of government continues to undermine institutional independence and democratic governance.
The two civil society organisations, in a statement issued on Tuesday and jointly signed by BudgIT Communications Associate, Nancy Odimegwu; and Programme Executive, Order Paper, Jokpa Erusiafe; lamented that over the years, Nigeria’s parliament had struggled to assert its independence from the executive, hindering its ability to exercise robust oversight and hold it accountable.
According to the organisations, this weak governance structure has exacerbated systemic challenges, contributing to poor crisis management and governance lapses even as unchecked executive dominance has stifled legislative oversight, weakened accountability mechanisms, and fostered budgetary mismanagement.
They pointed out that the fusion of powers had contributed to Nigeria’s worsening economic instability, with GDP per capita declining by nearly 50% and inflation reaching 31.7% in 2024 as the executive continued to persistently disregard for court rulings and refusal to comply with legislative summons further highlight the erosion of checks and balances.
Similarly, the CSOs noted that National Assembly, rather than serving as a check on executive excesses, had recently looked askance at the policies and programmes of the presidency, alleging that instead of scrutinising budgets and ensuring fiscal responsibility, legislators have contributed to poor financial indiscipline through budget insertions, with a staggering N2.24 trillion added to the 2024 budget alone.
The two organisations pointed out that challenge with legislative power had weakened governance and diminished public confidence while on the other hand, the Judiciary, which is constitutionally mandated to uphold justice and serve as an independent arbiter, appeared to be aloof.
They stated that the executive arm of government defiance of court rulings and allegations of judicial compromise had eroded public trust in the judicial system, noting that without financial and administrative autonomy, the judiciary remains vulnerable to political influence.
Commenting, BudgIT’s Head of Open Government and Institutional Partnership, Vahyala Kwaga, emphasised that the consequences of a weakened separation of powers extend beyond political maneuvering to real-life governance failures.
He explained: “Over the past decade, more than 11 million Nigerians have been internally displaced—8.7 million due to disasters and 3.3 million due to violence—underscoring the severe human impact of weak institutions.
“To prevent further democratic decline, we call for a national conversation on restoring legislative oversight, ensuring the executive adheres to judicial rulings and legislative summons, and safeguarding judicial independence,” Kwaga added
Also speaking, OrderPaper’s Programme Manager, Uko Etuk, highlighted the importance of strengthening the parliamentary accountability mechanism.
He stressed: “The National Assembly must reclaim its constitutional mandate as a check on executive (and judicial) excesses. Our work tracking legislative transparency and accountability has shown that ineffective oversight, executive overreach and obvious resistance to legislative oversight, is directly linked to governance failures, mismanagement of constituency projects, and lack of public trust in democratic institutions.”
To achieve this, BudgIT and OrderPaper hinted of their plan to launch a full-scale advocacy campaign for full financial autonomy for the judiciary and local governments, stronger legislative accountability, and stricter enforcement of constitutional checks and balances.
They disclosed that as part of this campaign, a Policy Brief had been developed titled “Nigeria’s Lost Decade: Effects and Remedies of the Weakening Separation of Powers (2014–2024)”, providing data-driven insights and actionable recommendations for reform, to be published in the coming days.
The CSOs, therefore called on policymakers, civil society organisations (CSOs), the media and citizens to support this campaign and demand a transparent, accountable, and constitutionally balanced government.
