Legislative Oversight and Executive Accountability in State Assemblies: A Study of Kwara State

This study examines the effectiveness of legislative oversight functions performed by the Kwara State House of Assembly in holding the executive branch accountable for its policy commitments and expenditure decisions. Legislative oversight is constitutionally mandated as a central mechanism of horizontal accountability in Nigerian democracy, requiring state assemblies to scrutinise executive budgets, monitor programme implementation, and investigate government misconduct. Using a qualitative design, the study draws on analysis of House of Assembly committee reports, plenary debate records, and public hearing transcripts over the period 2019 to 2023, supplemented by interviews with serving and former legislators, civil society budget monitors, and executive ministry officials. The separation of powers theory and the legislative-executive relations framework are applied to analyse the practical dynamics of oversight in a state assembly context. Findings reveal that the Kwara State House of Assembly's oversight functions are significantly constrained by party loyalty pressures that prevent ruling party legislators from aggressively scrutinising executive actions, limited technical capacity for budget analysis among committee staff, and the absence of independent expert support for legislative committees. Public hearings are often conducted without meaningful follow-up action, and the assembly lacks the administrative infrastructure to track executive compliance with its recommendations. The North Central geopolitical context of Kwara State, including its distinctive political history and the influence of political godfathers, shapes these findings. Recommendations include investment in legislative committee capacity, independent legislative budget offices, and statutory timelines for executive responses to assembly recommendations. Keywords: legislative oversight, executive accountability, Kwara State, state assembly, separation of powers