The National Assembly is set to expand access to legislative information by translating Nigerian laws into Igbo, Hausa, Yoruba and other indigenous languages.
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The Executive Secretary of the National Assembly Library Trust Fund, Henry Nwawuba, disclosed this on Monday in Abuja while opening the 2026 National Assembly Library Week.
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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 resources available through the National Assembly Library.
Nwawuba said the library was not simply a collection of books but an important knowledge centre for the legislature and a repository for parliamentary records.
He said efforts were being made to ensure that lawmakers, legislative aides, researchers and other stakeholders could access official parliamentary documents, including Order Papers, Votes and Proceedings, committee reports and Acts passed by the National Assembly.
The National Assembly Library Trust Fund is also investing in electronic repositories and upgrading its electronic library to make legislative materials easier to access.
Nwawuba disclosed that work was also underway on a National Assembly Library mobile application that would provide lawmakers, staff, researchers and members of the public with easier access to legislative information.
The library is also developing a Bills Tracker that will allow users to follow proposed legislation and monitor the progress of bills through different stages of the legislative process.
Other planned resources include infographics, audiovisual materials and video explainers designed to make bills, Acts and legislative procedures easier for Nigerians to understand.
Nwawuba said translating laws into indigenous languages would further widen access to legislative information and help more Nigerians understand laws that affect their everyday lives.
He added that the library planned to organise public policy discussions to encourage greater participation in public hearings and strengthen interaction between lawmakers, citizens, researchers and other stakeholders.
The initiatives are also intended to address inconsistencies in parliamentary documents and reduce the circulation of fake, altered or unauthorised copies of National Assembly records.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio urged lawmakers to make greater use of the library, particularly as misinformation, disinformation and artificial intelligence continue to influence the way information is produced and shared.
Represented by Senator Osita Ngwu, Akpabio described the library as an important connection between evidence, knowledge and legislative decision-making and called for continued support for its development.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Abbas Tajudeen, represented by the House Leader, Prof. Julius Ihonvbere, said parliamentary records were essential to preserving Nigeria’s legislative history and strengthening democratic governance.
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Tajudeen said the effectiveness of a legislature should be assessed not only through the laws it passes but also through its ability to document proceedings, preserve institutional knowledge and make relevant records available to future generations.
He said technology and artificial intelligence could improve legislative research, preservation of records and public access to information, but their use should be guided by accuracy, security and professional judgment.
The Clerk to the National Assembly, Kamoru Ogunlana, said the legislature could not operate independently without the ability to generate, preserve, retrieve and authenticate its institutional records and knowledge.
Ogunlana said the library had an important responsibility to connect parliamentary records and legislation with the public, noting that transparency would be difficult if official records could not be located, understood and trusted.
He identified the Order Paper, Votes and Proceedings and Hansard as key parts of Nigeria’s legislative history. He explained that the Order Paper sets out the agenda for legislative business.
The Clerk warned against the distribution of incomplete, outdated, altered or unauthorised copies of bills, Acts and other parliamentary documents, noting that digital technology had made it easier for documents to be manipulated and circulated.
He said the authenticity of an Act depended not only on the existence of a document but also on the ability to determine its authorised version and establish the legal process through which it was enacted.
Ogunlana also pointed to the continued reliance on the Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004, noting that the compilation reflected legislation covered by that particular revision exercise and was not automatically updated whenever new laws were enacted.
He said the National Assembly needed to strengthen cybersecurity, digital preservation, authentication systems, access controls, backup arrangements and staff training as more parliamentary records moved online.
According to him, digitisation would make legislative information easier to search and distribute but could also expose records to cyberattacks, manipulation and impersonation of official sources.
He therefore called for digital platforms that were both accessible and secure, with electronic records kept authentic, traceable and readily available.
Ogunlana said the National Assembly Library should move beyond simply storing documents and become an institution where parliamentary knowledge is preserved, authenticated and made accessible to lawmakers, researchers, journalists, civil society groups, 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 materials.
He also urged stronger cooperation 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 parliaments could learn from one another in developing institutions capable of preserving legislative history and institutional knowledge.
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