The Presidential governmental arrangement allows for all the executive powers that exists in a given political system to rest on one person. An all powerful individual, who's position is almost absolute, although, usually subject to the tenets of the Constitution, the grundnorm, in a situation where such are articulated in a written document. Such an individual is refered to as the Executive President. This is different from the Parliamentary system of government where the said powers rests on a President/Monarch who is the Ceremonial head, and a Prime Minister, who is saddled with the day-to-day running of the government as well as Head the Parliament. The Prime Minister is usually refered to as the Primus-Inter-Pares. The Parliamentary system often runs on established norms, traditions, customs and convention, thus those not necessarily need a Written Constitution, but several documents embodying the grundnorms on which the society is established. The major difference between the two systems however lies in the concept of Separation of Powers as propounded by Baron De Montesquieu. Whereas the Executive President heads the Executive arm of government only, the Prime Minister heads both the Executive and Legislative arms of government. Also, through impeachment by the Legislature, a president is removed from office, whereas a Prime Minister is removed from office through a vote of No Confidence.
In Presidentialism, the government is usually over bloated with several layers of government, a development which often results in huge governmental spending. It is however seen as one that allows for greater participation of the people in governance, as there is wide spread Political appointments that cuts across the whole country to reflect what is loosely refered to as the Federal Character Principle. The president has his ministers and a gamut of other aides. This is also reflected in the Legislature and the judiciary.
At Independence, Nigeria experimented with Parliamentary system of government with Nnamdi AZIKIWE and Tafawa BALEWA as the President and Prime Minister, respectively. However, in 1979, the military regime of Olusegun OBASANJO bequeathed Presidential system of government to Nigerians with Shehu SHAGARI emerging as the first elected Executive President of the country. Moving forward, the country has maintained Presidential system of government.
The argument against the presidential system stems from the fact that it is costly to run as a result of the phenomenon of BIG GOVERNMENT. Also, it is often much more easier for a developed and mature participatory political system to run. Thus, It presents with numerous governmental issues in a less mature Political system, especially as seen in the regular loggerheads between the Executive and Legislative arms of government. However, it allows for Checks and Balances.
Although Parliamentary system seem obsolete, it appears easier to manage. This is however without prejudice to it's own challenges such as fragile government arising from coalitions and the need to conduct elections so regularly following a negative confidence vote in the Parliament. Scholars believe that this system may be preferable to allow the society to grow. It however goes without saying that it behooves on a people to determine and opt for a system of government that suits their specific peculiarities without necessarily making comparisons with the Western world.
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