2002 - JAMB Government Past Questions and Answers - page 1

Delegated Legislation may be defined as laws and regulations made by the other bodies or persons other than the legislature, but sanctioned by the legislature.

Some reasons for delegated legislation are as follows:

1. Pressure on the time and volume of work of parliament.

2. Technicalities of modern legislation

3. The need for legislative flexibility and thoroughness.

4. The need to cope with emergency situations

5. Suitability for experimentation

6. To ensure speedy legislative process.

Public Opinion is the beliefs, values and attitudes which are commonly held and expressed by majority of the people on a given public issue.

In some cases, what we regard as public opinion are the views of infinitesimal number of members of the public which means it does not represent the opinion of majority members of the public.

Citizenship in a modern state expresses the status of a person who possesses full political rights.

This is so as a person who is a legal member of a state is citizen of that state. He must also owe allegiance to that particular state he resides and then enjoys full civil and political rights and will be ready to put his life at stake in defence of that country whenever occasion calls for that

Communism is a system which recognizes the existence of the state.

This is so as communism may be defined as an economic system and a system of government where the means of production, distribution and exchange are totally controlled by the state.

Some features of communism are as follows:

1. Total ownership of means of production and distribution, by the state.

2. Absence of classes, ie classes society.

3. Centrally planned economy.

4. Authoritarian and Totalitarian government

The delineation of constituencies is a major duty of the Electoral Commission.

An Electoral Commission is a body of persons which is created by law in a state. It is given the responsibility of organizing and conducting free and fair elections in the state. e.g Federal Electoral Commission (FEDECO). National Electoral Commission of Nigeria (NECON) Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Some of its functions are as follows:

1. It divides the country into electoral dictrists called constituencies.

2. It registers political parties

3. It sees about registration of voters, compilation of voters register and revision and updating of voters' register.

4. It provides election materials e.g Pencil voters' registers, ballot paper and boxes, etc.

5. It appoints and train electoral officers e.g prisiding and returning officers, counting officers etc.

6. It announces the results of elections etc.

The structure of the civil service is based on hierarchical organization.

The structure is as follows:

1. The Administrative Class: This is the most prestigious class as well as the highest grade e.g The Director General or the Permanent or principal, Secretaries, Deputy Director. etc.

2. Professional Class: e.g Medical Doctors Engineers, Lawyers, Surveyors, etc.

3. The Executive Class: Higher Executive, Senior Executive, Executive Officers.

4. Clerical Class: Typists, Office Clerks, Clerical Assistants

5. Manipulative Class: e.g Messengers, Drivers Sweepers, Cleaners, Gardeners etc.

A common feature of a multi-party system is that government is formed by a coalition of political parties.

When there are several political parties in a country, it then become difficult for one party to win a clear majority in parliament. The part that has won the scanty majority will be forced to form a coalition government with another part. e.g. NPN and NNP during the second Republic.

To qualify for absorption into the administrative cadre in Nigeria, an applicant must be a holder of a university degree.

As Indicated earlier, The administrative class is the highest grade of civil servants in the civil service. Members of this class of civil servant include the Director General or the Permanent Secretary,Deputy Director, Assistance Directors, General Principal Officers, Etc. These officers are responsible for advising the Ministers, helping in the formulation of major policies and then carrying out general administrative work of their various ministries.

Their recruitment is the therefore based on university education or equivalent educational qualification and long service as it was in the past

The final interpretation pf the provisions of a federal constitution is vested in the highest court of the land.

One of the main characteristics of a Federal System of Government is the existence of a court to interpret the constitution and resolve conflicts between the centre and the federating units.

The objective is a major issue that distinguishes pressure groups from political parties.

Political parties aim at contesting and winning elections and controlling government while pressure groups aim at pursing the interest of their members but do not attempt to control government machinery directly by contesting elections.