Functions of the President in a Presidential System of government
i) The Executive president is both head of state and head of government.
He has the power to sign a bill into law. He can however refuse signing a bill if he is sufficiently convinced that the content of the bill does not conform to his programmes or if it contain some anomalies, until the adjustments are made to make the bill conform to the president’s fancies.
ii) The President addresses the joint session of the National Assembly in Nigeria, for example, or what is called the annual State of the Union Address in the United States. The President prepares the annual budget or supplementary estimates for the consideration and approval of the Legislature, before any spending can be constitutionally made from the Federation Account or the Consolidated Revenue Fund.
iii) The President is the chief security officer of the whole country, and in exercise of this power he sees to the maintenance of law and order in the country. The President he is also the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, which confers on the occupant of that office the power to declare war to defend the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of his country.
Self-Assessment Exercise (SAE) 3.1
Analyse the major difference between the functions of a President as Head of State and Head of government.
Features of Presidential System of Government
The president exercises veto power Under the Presidential system of government, the President who has the whole country as his constituency is elected separately for a fixed term of four years, and separately from the Congress. The President is the head of state, head of government and commander-in-chief of the armed forces. But in some respects despite having the whole country has his constituency, the President in exercising his major functions of legislations, appointments; treaty making and declaration of war shares his power with the Congress.
i) Combination of two offices in one The combination of the office of head of state and head of government makes for quick and prompt decisions, especially on rare occasions when delays or vacillations may be dangerous for the corporate existence of a nation. To facilitate this, the American presidential system, for instance, allows the president the power to issue executive orders without recourse to the congress, while the Nigerian system also permits a president to take steps in exceptional circumstances, before seeking the approval of the National Assembly. This was in line with the view of the Constitution Drafting Committee, which had recommended in its report that:
The single executive has the merit of unity, energy and dispatch…This is not, of course to deny the virtue of collective discussion and
consultation…Yet it is essential to effective leadership in government that there should be a single individual in the capacity of a Chief Executive who can decide and act promptly when despatch is
demanded and who can impose his will when differences of opinion among cabinet members threatened to paralyse government.
ii) Presidential discretion in Appointments: The President also has a free hand in appointing his ministers and other government appointees. It is possible for ministers to be chosen from outside the president’s party. This is due to the insulation of the president from Party Politics under the presidential system of government.
iii) A single countrywide constituency: The whole country constitutes a single constituency for a president in a presidential system of government
iv) Separation of Powers and Checks and Balances: The presidential system of government is anchored on the twin mechanisms of separation of power and checks and balances. This is not the case in the parliamentary system where power what operate is a fusion of power among the three organs of government
v) Fixed Tenure of Office The President under the presidential system has a fixed tenure in office, usually a four-year period before another election is due, when he can seek for a re-election for another term in office. In Nigeria and the United States, no president can serve in office for more than two terms. The late president Franklin Roosevelt of U.S. however had a singular distinction to be elected into the office of president for more than two terms, a situation which arose partly because of the contingency of the war situation and his immense popularity. But this is no longer possible since the amendment of U.S. constitution.
vi) Veto Power there is adoption of veto power by the president in the presidential system of government, the president is constitutionally empowered to refuse to assent any bill passed by the legislature that he considers to be against public interest, but it isn’t a feature in the parliamentary system of government.
x) Primacy is accorded to the Constitution
The constitution is the supreme law in the presidential system. This is unlike most parliamentary system where supremacy lies with the parliament.
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