Which organ of government is responsible for the formulation and implementation of laws and policies?

Step 1: Analyze the question The question asks which organ of government both formulates (makes or plans) and implements (carries out) laws and policies.

Step 2: Explain the concept Nigeria, like many countries, operates the separation of powers among three organs:

• Legislature (National Assembly: Senate and House of Representatives): makes laws. Its main job is law-making, not carrying them out.
• Executive (President, Vice-President, Ministers, civil service): initiates and formulates policies and implements or enforces laws. It also proposes bills and the budget.
• Judiciary (Courts): interprets laws and settles disputes.

Step 3: Work through the options

• A. Courts: They interpret the law and do not formulate or implement policy.
• B. Executive: It formulates policies (for example, the President and the Federal Executive Council decide on education, health and economic policy) and implements laws and policies through ministries and agencies. This fits both parts of the question.
• C. Judiciary: Its role is interpretation and adjudication.
• D. Legislature: It makes laws, but it does not implement them. This is the usual distractor, because "formulation" can sound like law-making. The question pairs it with "implementation", which points away from the legislature.
• E. Senate: It is only one chamber of the legislature, so it is even narrower than D.

Step 4: Answer The executive is the organ that formulates policies and implements both laws and policies.

Exam tip: Remember it as "Legislature Legislates, Executive Executes, Judiciary Judges." When a question includes the word "implementation" or "enforcement", think Executive.