By Olugbenga Salami
A bill by the Deputy Senate President, Senator Barau Jibrin to transform the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies, NILDS into a university, has scaled first reading in Senate.
The bill titled West African University of Legislative Studies (Establishment) Bill, 2026, SB.1087, passed first reading at plenary on Wednesday.
This comes 48 hours after Barau announced his plan to sponsor the legislation.
Barau, who is also the First Deputy Speaker of ECOWAS Parliament, had announced the proposal on Monday while representing Senate President Godswill Akpabio at NILDS-UNIBEN postgraduate convocation in Abuja.
He said he had started talks with NILDS Director-General, Prof Abubakar Sulaiman, on modalities for the institute to a full-fledged university.
Barau proposed naming it West African University of Legislative Studies, WAULS.
He said the proposed university would leverage NILDS existing infrastructure to strengthen legislative practice, democratic governance and regional integration.
“Going by the quality of infrastructure this great institute has acquired over the years, there is a need for it to be transformed into a full-fledged university,” Barau said.
He noted Nigeria’s fatherly role in ECOWAS makes it fit to host a regional legislative university for lawmakers across member states, adding that location of ECOWAS Parliament, Commission and Court of Justice in Nigeria strategically positions country to host such institution.
Barau expressed optimism that National Assembly would pass bill and President Bola Tinubu would assent to it, providing platform for legislators to acquire specialised skills.
