The legislature is the engine of democratic governance because it represents the people. Laws made by the organ determine and shape both the activities of government and the conduct of the people. Despite the indispensability of the legislature in a democracy, most legislative studies, focusing on the national or central legislative bodies, have found that its role is declining. The book undertakes a comparative analysis of state legislatures in southwestern Nigerian under parliamentary (1960-1966) and presidential (1979-1983 and 1999-2003) systems of government. Specifically, it assesses the...