Paper short abstract:

Despite Nigeria's practice of a Federal and Presidential system of government, legislative practice in Nigeria differs from what obtains in similar federal systems like the United States and Brazil. This calls for a comparative analysis in order to establish some uniformity.

Paper long abstract:

The primary responsibility of the legislature in all democracies is to make laws for the good governance of their societies. The stages through which law-making passes to be promulgated are referred to as legislative process. In this process, there exists an interface between the political and administrative structures of the legislature. How this interface impacts on the legislative processes remains debatable. Using three federal systems; Brazil, Nigeria and the United Sates as case studies, this paper seeks to draw a comparative analysis of the legislative process of these systems. In this comparison, the similarities and differences inherent in the legislative procedures of the selected states will be highlighted and from the findings of this comparative analysis, some policy lessons will be drawn for Nigeria which will include, among others, the need for a constitutional amendment in Nigeria to restructure the unwieldy size of its legislature and to develop political systems that are indigenous to its historical and social development.