Zainab Abioye
The National Assembly has unveiled plans to translate Nigerian laws into Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba and other indigenous languages as part of a broader initiative to make legislation more accessible to citizens and strengthen the preservation of the country’s parliamentary records.
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 programme, themed “Parliamentary Memory: Connecting Records, Legislation and the People,” is designed to promote legislative research, access to information and effective utilisation of the National Assembly Library.
Nwawuba said the planned translation of laws would enable more Nigerians to understand legislation affecting their daily lives, particularly citizens who may not be sufficiently proficient in English.
He explained that the initiative formed part of efforts to transform the National Assembly Library from a conventional repository into a modern knowledge and information hub capable of providing reliable legislative information to lawmakers, researchers, journalists, civil society organisations and members of the public.
According to him, the Trust Fund is investing in electronic repositories and upgrading the National Assembly E-Library, while also developing a mobile application through which users would have easier access to parliamentary information.
Another major component of the digital transformation is a Bills Tracker, which will allow users to follow the progress of bills as they move through the legislative process.
Nwawuba also disclosed plans to develop infographics, audiovisual materials and video explainers to simplify Bills, Acts and legislative procedures for members of the public.
He said the library would organise public policy dialogues to encourage greater citizen participation in public hearings and strengthen interaction among legislators, citizens, researchers and other stakeholders.
Nwawuba added that the initiatives were also intended to tackle the circulation of fake or unauthorised parliamentary documents by improving access to authoritative records.
The Executive Secretary described the National Assembly Library as more than a collection of books, stressing that it serves as a critical knowledge infrastructure and repository of parliamentary records.
He said the library was working to ensure that lawmakers, legislative aides, researchers and other stakeholders could access authoritative records, including Order Papers, Votes and Proceedings, committee reports and Acts passed by the National Assembly.
The National Assembly Library itself describes its role as that of a custodian of Nigeria’s legislative memory, housing parliamentary information and historical materials while providing access to legislative resources.
The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, represented by Senator Osita Ngwu, urged lawmakers to make greater use of the library, particularly amid the growing challenges posed by misinformation, disinformation and the rapid development of artificial intelligence.
Akpabio described the library as a critical link between evidence, knowledge and legislative decision-making, and called for sustained support for its development.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Abbas Tajudeen, represented by the House Leader, Prof. Julius Ihonvbere, also stressed the importance of preserving legislative records.
Tajudeen said the strength of a legislature should not be measured only by the laws it passes, but also by how effectively it documents its activities, preserves institutional knowledge and makes such information available to future generations.
He said technology and artificial intelligence could improve legislative research, records preservation and access to information, but cautioned that their deployment must be guided by accuracy, security and professional judgment.
The Clerk to the National Assembly, Kamoru Ogunlana, warned that the increasing digitisation of parliamentary information had created new risks, including manipulation, cyberattacks and impersonation of official sources.
Ogunlana said the National Assembly could not be truly independent without the capacity to generate, preserve, retrieve and authenticate its institutional knowledge and records.
He identified the Order Paper, Votes and Proceedings and Hansard as critical components of Nigeria’s democratic memory.
The Clerk cautioned against the circulation of incomplete, outdated, altered or unauthorised Bills, Acts and other parliamentary documents.
He stressed that the integrity of an Act depended not only on the existence of a document but also on the ability to establish which version was authentic, authoritative and properly produced through the legislative process.
Ogunlana also drew attention to the continued widespread use of the Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, LFN 2004, noting that the compilation reflected laws covered by that particular revision exercise and was not automatically updated every time a new Act was enacted.
He therefore called for stronger cybersecurity, digital preservation, secure authentication, access controls, backup systems and continuous training for personnel as parliamentary records become increasingly digitised.
The Clerk said digitisation would make legislative information easier to access, search and disseminate, but could simultaneously expose records to manipulation and other cyber threats.
He said digital platforms must therefore be both accessible and secure, while electronic records must remain authentic, traceable and verifiable.
Ogunlana said the National Assembly Library should evolve beyond a place where documents are merely stored to an institution where parliamentary knowledge is preserved, authenticated and made readily accessible.
He said this was particularly important for lawmakers, researchers, journalists, civil society organisations, students and other Nigerians seeking authoritative information about the country’s legislative process.
Meanwhile, 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.
Umar also urged stronger collaboration between the National Assembly and state Houses of Assembly.
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 legislative memory.
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