JUPEB Government
Past Questions
38+ verified Government practice questions for JUPEB. Step-by-step worked answers in 5 Nigerian languages.
Government topics (4)
Sample Government practice questions
1. Max Weber identified three sources of legitimate authority. Which of the following is NOT one of them?
- A. legal-rational
- B. traditional
- C. coercive
- D. charismatic
Answer: C
AI Explanation
Weber's types are traditional (inherited custom, e.g. an Emir), charismatic (personal qualities of a leader) and legal-rational (rules and offices, e.g. a president under a constitution). Coercion may produce obedience but is not a source of legitimate authority.
2. The concept that describes the willingness of citizens to accept and obey the government because they regard it as rightful is
- A. nationalism.
- B. legitimacy.
- C. sovereignty.
- D. patriotism.
Answer: B
AI Explanation
Legitimacy is popular acceptance of the right of a government to rule, usually derived from free elections, constitutionalism and good performance. A government may hold power without legitimacy, as with many military regimes.
3. Political socialisation refers to
- A. the registration of political parties.
- B. the appointment of ambassadors.
- C. the sharing of national revenue among states.
- D. the process by which individuals acquire political attitudes, values and beliefs.
Answer: D
AI Explanation
Political socialisation is the lifelong learning of political culture through agents such as the family, school, peer groups, religious bodies, the mass media and political parties. The other options describe unrelated administrative processes.
4. A nation is best defined as
- A. an association of states that have agreed to cooperate.
- B. a group of people living within defined boundaries under one government.
- C. a political party that has won a national election.
- D. a group of people who share a common identity based on language, culture, history or descent and who feel they belong together.
Answer: D
AI Explanation
A nation is a cultural and psychological community; a state is a legal and political entity. Nigeria is one state containing several nations (Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo and others), which is why it is described as a multi-national state.
5. The doctrine of popular sovereignty holds that
- A. sovereignty resides in the people, who delegate it to government through elections.
- B. sovereignty belongs to the president.
- C. sovereignty is shared between the state and the United Nations.
- D. sovereignty belongs to the armed forces.
Answer: A
AI Explanation
Popular sovereignty, expressed in Section 14(2)(a) of the 1999 Constitution as 'sovereignty belongs to the people of Nigeria from whom government through this Constitution derives all its powers and authority', means that governments rule only with the consent of the governed.
6. Which of the following best distinguishes a political system from a government?
- A. A government is larger than a political system.
- B. A political system exists only in democracies.
- C. A political system is the whole network of institutions and processes through which a society makes binding decisions, of which government is only the formal part.
- D. They are the same thing.
Answer: C
AI Explanation
David Easton's systems approach sees the political system as including inputs (demands and supports from parties, pressure groups and the public), the conversion process (government) and outputs (policies). Government is thus one component of the wider system.
7. The principle of constitutionalism means that
- A. the constitution can be changed by the president alone.
- B. government is limited by law and must exercise power according to the constitution.
- C. a country must have a written constitution.
- D. only lawyers may hold political office.
Answer: B
AI Explanation
Constitutionalism is the idea of limited government: rulers are bound by rules they cannot change at will. A state can have a constitution without constitutionalism, as when military decrees suspend constitutional provisions, and Britain practises constitutionalism without a single written document.
8. The principle that power should be shared among the legislature, executive and judiciary so that no single organ becomes too powerful is called
- A. checks and balances.
- B. delegated legislation.
- C. separation of powers.
- D. rule of law.
Answer: C
AI Explanation
Separation of powers, associated with Montesquieu, allocates law-making, law-executing and law-interpreting functions to different organs and different personnel. Checks and balances is the related mechanism by which each organ restrains the others, for example the Senate confirming ministerial nominees.
9. According to A. V. Dicey, the rule of law means all of the following EXCEPT
- A. the head of state is above the law during a state of emergency.
- B. no one can be punished except for a definite breach of law established in an ordinary court.
- C. the rights of citizens flow from decisions of the courts rather than from a written declaration.
- D. every person is equal before the law regardless of rank.
Answer: A
AI Explanation
Dicey's three principles are supremacy of the law, equality before the law and the protection of individual rights through the ordinary courts. Placing anyone above the law, even in an emergency, contradicts equality before the law.
10. Power is distinguished from authority in that power
- A. is the ability to make others obey, whether or not they accept the right to command, while authority is power accepted as legitimate.
- B. is always exercised through elections.
- C. is always legal, while authority may be illegal.
- D. can be held only by the state.
Answer: A
AI Explanation
Power is the capacity to compel compliance, by force if necessary; authority is power that the governed recognise as rightful. A coup leader has power but initially lacks authority.
11. Which of the following is NOT an essential element of a state?
- A. a defined territory
- B. a government
- C. a permanent population
- D. a monarch
Answer: D
AI Explanation
A state must have population, territory, government and sovereignty. The form of the head of state is irrelevant; republics such as Nigeria are states without a monarch.
12. The supreme power of a state to make and enforce laws within its territory without external interference is known as
- A. legitimacy.
- B. sovereignty.
- C. authority.
- D. influence.
Answer: B
AI Explanation
Sovereignty is the absolute and final power of the state, internal (over its citizens) and external (freedom from foreign control). Authority is the right to give orders, legitimacy is popular acceptance of that right, and influence is the ability to affect decisions without formal power.
13. Delegated legislation refers to
- A. international treaties signed by the president.
- B. laws made directly by the National Assembly.
- C. rules, regulations and bye-laws made by ministers, agencies or local councils under powers granted by an Act of the legislature.
- D. judgments of the Supreme Court.
Answer: C
AI Explanation
Because the legislature cannot legislate on every technical detail, it passes enabling Acts that allow the executive and local authorities to make subsidiary legislation, subject to legislative and judicial control. It saves parliamentary time but is criticised for weakening legislative supremacy.
14. The organ of government responsible for making laws is the
- A. legislature.
- B. civil service.
- C. executive.
- D. judiciary.
Answer: A
AI Explanation
The legislature (in Nigeria, the National Assembly and the State Houses of Assembly) makes laws. The executive implements them, the judiciary interprets them, and the civil service is the permanent administrative arm of the executive.
15. A legislature with two chambers is described as
- A. unicameral.
- B. federal.
- C. bicameral.
- D. unitary.
Answer: C
AI Explanation
Nigeria's National Assembly, with a Senate and a House of Representatives, is bicameral; the State Houses of Assembly are unicameral. Federal and unitary describe how power is shared between levels of government, not the structure of the legislature.
16. How many members make up the Nigerian Senate under the 1999 Constitution?
- A. 360
- B. 36
- C. 72
- D. 109
Answer: D
AI Explanation
Each of the 36 states elects three senators (108) and the Federal Capital Territory elects one, giving 109. The House of Representatives has 360 members elected from single-member constituencies.
17. In a presidential system of government, the president is
- A. chosen by and answerable to the legislature.
- B. both head of state and head of government, elected separately from the legislature.
- C. a ceremonial figure with no executive power.
- D. appointed by the judiciary.
Answer: B
AI Explanation
In the presidential system, as in Nigeria and the United States, the executive is separately elected for a fixed term, combines the roles of head of state and head of government, and is not a member of the legislature. A separately chosen ceremonial head of state is a feature of parliamentary systems.
18. Which of the following is a feature of the parliamentary (cabinet) system of government?
- A. fixed tenure of office for the prime minister regardless of parliamentary support
- B. the executive is drawn from and is collectively responsible to the legislature
- C. strict separation of personnel between executive and legislature
- D. the head of state and head of government are the same person
Answer: B
AI Explanation
In the parliamentary system, practised in Nigeria's First Republic and in Britain, ministers are members of parliament and the government falls if it loses a vote of confidence. There is fusion, not separation, of powers, and the ceremonial head of state (monarch or president) is separate from the prime minister.
19. The power of the courts to declare an act of the legislature or executive unconstitutional and therefore void is called
- A. judicial immunity.
- B. judicial independence.
- C. judicial review.
- D. judicial precedent.
Answer: C
AI Explanation
Judicial review is the main check the judiciary exercises over the other organs. Precedent is the doctrine of following earlier decisions, independence is the freedom of judges from interference, and immunity protects judges from lawsuits over their judicial acts.
20. Which of the following is NOT a function of the legislature?
- A. confirming appointments made by the president
- B. approving the annual budget
- C. impeaching the president for gross misconduct
- D. interpreting the constitution in disputes between states
Answer: D
AI Explanation
Interpreting the constitution is a judicial function performed by the Supreme Court. The legislature makes laws, controls public finance, oversees the executive, confirms appointments and can remove the president through impeachment.
21. The independence of the judiciary is best secured by
- A. security of tenure, payment of judges' salaries from a consolidated fund and appointment through an independent body.
- B. allowing the president to dismiss judges at will.
- C. electing judges by popular vote every four years.
- D. making judges members of the ruling party.
Answer: A
AI Explanation
Judges who cannot be removed except for proven misconduct, whose salaries cannot be reduced by the executive and who are appointed on the recommendation of the National Judicial Council can decide cases without fear or favour. The other options subject judges to political pressure.
22. Under the 1999 Constitution, the president of Nigeria may be removed from office by impeachment when
- A. the Supreme Court orders it.
- B. the process laid down in the Constitution is followed and not less than two-thirds of all members of each House of the National Assembly adopt the report of the investigating panel.
- C. a simple majority of the Senate votes for it.
- D. a state governor petitions the National Assembly.
Answer: B
AI Explanation
Section 143 requires a notice of allegation signed by at least one-third of the members of the National Assembly, a two-thirds vote to investigate, a panel appointed by the Chief Justice, and then a two-thirds vote of all members of each House to adopt the report. The high threshold protects the executive from removal on partisan grounds.
23. The chief executive of a Nigerian local government council is the
- A. Chairman.
- B. Governor.
- C. Secretary to the Government.
- D. Speaker.
Answer: A
AI Explanation
Local government councils are headed by an elected Chairman, with an elected legislative council of councillors. The Governor heads the state executive, and a Speaker presides over a legislature.
24. A confederation differs from a federation in that in a confederation
- A. the central government is stronger than the component units.
- B. the constitution is always unwritten.
- C. there is no central government at all.
- D. the component units retain their sovereignty and may withdraw from the union, with the centre depending on them for revenue and enforcement.
Answer: D
AI Explanation
In a confederation, such as the Senegambia Confederation (1982 to 1989), sovereign states create a weak centre for limited common purposes and can secede. In a federation the constitution divides powers between centre and units, neither can abolish the other, and secession is not permitted.
25. Which of the following countries operates an unwritten constitution?
- A. Nigeria
- B. Ghana
- C. the United Kingdom
- D. the United States of America
Answer: C
AI Explanation
The United Kingdom's constitution is not contained in a single document but in statutes, common law, conventions and authoritative texts. Nigeria, the USA and Ghana each have a single codified constitutional document.
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