African Peer Review Mechanism and Crisis of Good Governance in Africa

The transformation of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) into the African Union (AU) in July 2002 at the Heads of State Summit in Durban, South Africa increased hopes for the African continent as it grappled with a broad range of challenges. These hopes were further bolstered with the adoption of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) as the AU’s framework for development. NEPAD recognises governance, peace and security as central precondition for development. The African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) by which African countries are judged on their compliance with stated norms of governance is a remarkable innovation designed to facilitate the delivery not only of good governance but also peace and security. Moreover, security within the context of a new African Union has taken on a broader meaning since the end of the cold war from a traditional state-centric and ideologically- inspired concept to encompassing a human security approach. From this holistic perspective, the threats to human security in Africa remain a challenge for the AU and NEPAD. Similarly, failure to manage Africa’s diverse peoples and resources has resulted in devastating conflicts across the continent. While governance and security are not the only challenges in Africa, it seems clear that the process towards the continent’s renewal would need to proceed on a sound governance and security base. Moreover, as the dominantinstitutions and programmers representing the collective vision of the continent, success in dealing with Africa’s security and governance issue will largely depend on the AU/NEPAD and its programmes that is, APRM. Keywords: NEPAD, peer review mechanism,good governanc

Ensuring good governance through parliamentary control of administrative agencies: A critique

Parliamentary institutions are central to most systems of government but their role within the structure of government varies from one country to another. Not only are there differences in terms of their specific powers, but also in measure of  power/influence exercised within the framework of normative rules or legal system of  a nation to guarantee good governance. The objectives of this paper are to overview parliaments around the world vis-à-vis their control of administrative  agencies, especially in Britain and United States of America and to highlight the forms of control that the Nigerian National Assembly exerts on the administrative  agencies. The writers rely on published and unpublished materials such as  textbooks; articles in journals, conferences and work shop documents, law reports; newspapers; magazine; and internet facility. The paper concluded that the  parliamentary control of administrative agencies depends largely on the type of  parliamentary system being practiced either uni-cameral or bi-cameral legislature or even presidential or parliamentary. It is suggested that care must be taken not only to ensure that the electorates choose their proper representatives to National or State Assembly, but there should equally be good electoral laws to ensure that, the choice of the people are not defeated as a result of electoral fraud because the failure or success of a state depends largely on the nature of its legislators.Key words: Legislature, Good Governance, Oversight, Impeachment, Investigatio