By Aaron Ossai
The National Assembly is set to expand the digitisation of parliamentary records and translate federal laws into Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo and other Nigerian languages as part of measures to improve public access to legislative information and preserve the country’s democratic history.
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, themed, “Parliamentary Memory: Connecting Records, Legislation and the People.”
Nwawuba said the three-day event was designed to promote legislative research, access to information and effective use of the National Assembly Library.
He described the library as the legislature’s knowledge infrastructure and a repository of parliamentary records, research materials and institutional memory.
According to him, the library is upgrading its electronic repositories and E-Library while developing a National Assembly Library mobile application to give lawmakers, legislative aides, researchers and members of the public easier access to official records.
He said the library would also introduce a Bills Tracker to enable users monitor the progress of legislation through the parliamentary process.
Nwawuba added that infographics, audiovisual materials and video explainers would be developed to make Bills, Acts and legislative procedures easier for Nigerians to understand.
He said translating laws into Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo and other local languages would further widen access to legislation and help citizens understand laws affecting their daily lives.
The Trust Fund, he added, would organise public policy dialogues to encourage greater citizen participation in public hearings and strengthen interaction among legislators, researchers, civil society groups and the wider public.
Nwawuba said the initiatives would also help tackle the circulation of fake, altered and unauthorised copies of National Assembly documents.
Senator Osita Ngwu who represented the Senate President Godswill Akpabio urged lawmakers to make greater use of the library, particularly amid the spread of misinformation and disinformation and the rapid development of artificial intelligence.
Ngwu described the library as a vital link between evidence, knowledge and legislative decision-making, calling for sustained support for its development.
On his part, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, represented by the House Leader, Prof. Julius Ihonvbere, said legislative records were indispensable to understanding Nigeria’s legislative history and strengthening democratic governance.
Abbas said the effectiveness of a legislature should not be measured only by the laws it passes, but also by its ability to document its activities, preserve institutional knowledge and make such information available to future generations.
Also speaking, the Clerk to the National Assembly, Kamoru Ogunlana, said legislative independence required the capacity to generate, preserve, retrieve and authenticate parliamentary knowledge and records.
