By Asaye Bankole
The National Assembly is set to expand public access to legislative information by translating Nigerian laws into major indigenous languages, including Igbo, Hausa and Yoruba.
The initiative is part of efforts to deepen the digitisation of parliamentary records and make legislation easier for Nigerians to access, understand and use.
The Executive Secretary of the National Assembly Library Trust Fund, Henry Nwawuba, disclosed this on Monday in Abuja while declaring open the 2026 National Assembly Library Week.
The three-day event, themed “Parliamentary Memory: Connecting Records, Legislation and the People,” is designed to promote legislative research, access to information and effective use of the resources of the National Assembly Library.
Nwawuba described the library as more than a collection of books, saying it serves as the knowledge infrastructure of the legislature and a repository of parliamentary records.
He said the library was working to ensure that lawmakers, legislative aides, researchers, journalists and other stakeholders could obtain authoritative parliamentary documents, including Order Papers, Votes and Proceedings, committee reports and Acts passed by the National Assembly.
According to him, the National Assembly Library Trust Fund is investing in electronic repositories and upgrading its e-library as part of efforts to modernise the management and distribution of legislative information.
He added that plans were underway to develop a National Assembly Library mobile application that would provide lawmakers, staff, researchers and members of the public with easier access to parliamentary materials.
The library is also planning to introduce a Bills Tracker, which would enable users to follow bills and monitor their progress from introduction through the various stages of the legislative process.
Nwawuba said the library was equally developing infographics, audiovisual materials and video explainers to simplify bills, Acts and legislative procedures for ordinary Nigerians.
He explained that translating laws into local languages would further widen access to legislative information and enable more citizens to understand laws and policies that directly affect their daily lives.
The library also plans to organise public policy dialogues aimed at strengthening citizens’ participation in public hearings and creating greater interaction between lawmakers, citizens, researchers and other stakeholders.
Nwawuba said the initiatives were also intended to tackle inconsistencies in official parliamentary documents and reduce the circulation of fake, altered or unauthorised copies of National Assembly records.
Speaking through Senator Osita Ngwu, the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, urged lawmakers to make greater use of the National Assembly Library, particularly at a time when misinformation, disinformation and artificial intelligence are rapidly transforming the information environment.
Akpabio described the library as an important link between evidence, knowledge and legislative decision-making and called for continued support for its development.
Similarly, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Abbas Tajudeen, represented by the House Leader, Prof. Julius Ihonvbere, said legislative records were essential to preserving Nigeria’s legislative history and strengthening democratic governance.
Tajudeen said the effectiveness of a legislature should not be judged solely by the number of laws it passes, but also by how well it documents its activities, preserves institutional knowledge and makes such information available to future generations.
He noted that technology and artificial intelligence could significantly improve legislative research, preservation of records and access to information, but stressed that their deployment must be guided by accuracy, security and professional judgment.
The Clerk to the National Assembly, Kamoru Ogunlana, said the National Assembly could not achieve genuine institutional independence without the capacity to generate, preserve, retrieve and authenticate its knowledge and records.
Ogunlana said the library had an important responsibility to bridge the gap between parliamentary records, legislation and the Nigerian people.
He stressed that Parliament could not be fully transparent if its records were difficult to locate, understand or authenticate.
According to him, the Order Paper, Votes and Proceedings and Hansard constitute important elements of Nigeria’s democratic memory.
He explained that the Order Paper provides the agenda for legislative business, while other parliamentary records document proceedings and decisions taken during the legislative process.
The Clerk also warned against the circulation of incomplete, outdated, altered or unauthorised copies of bills, Acts and other parliamentary documents.
He noted that advances in digital technology had made it easier for documents to be manipulated and circulated, making authentication increasingly important.
Ogunlana stressed that the integrity of an Act depends not only on the existence of a document but also on establishing which version is authentic, authoritative and legally valid, as well as the process through which it emerged.
He pointed to the continued widespread use of the Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, LFN 2004, as an example of the challenges involved in maintaining a current and authoritative consolidated body of federal legislation.
According to him, the LFN 2004 reflects the laws covered by the relevant revision exercise and is not automatically updated each time a new Act is enacted.
Ogunlana further called for stronger cybersecurity measures, digital preservation systems, secure authentication, access controls, backup mechanisms and continuous training for personnel as parliamentary records become increasingly digital.
He warned that while digitisation would make legislative information easier to search, access and disseminate, it could also expose records to cyberattacks, manipulation and impersonation of official sources.
He therefore stressed the need for digital platforms to remain both accessible and secure, while electronic records must be available, authentic and traceable.
Ogunlana said the National Assembly Library should move beyond functioning simply as a repository for documents and evolve into an institution where parliamentary knowledge is preserved, authenticated and made accessible to lawmakers, researchers, journalists, civil society organisations, students and the wider public.
The President of the Nigerian Library Association, Dr Lawal Umar, called for sustained investment in libraries and modern information technology to improve access to legislative information.
He also urged stronger collaboration between the National Assembly and state Houses of Assembly in strengthening legislative research and information management.
The Secretary-General of the Conference of Speakers of African Legislatures, Ambassador Debo Oyewale, said African legislatures could learn from one another in developing institutions capable of preserving and making accessible their legislative history.
The National Assembly Library Week is expected to further highlight the importance of preserving Nigeria’s parliamentary records while improving public access to laws and legislative information through technology and indigenous-language translation.
COMMENTS