SPECIAL REPORT: Nigeria’s National Assembly yet to update its website in over one year

“Plenary Proceedings of the House of Representatives for Wednesday, 20th March, 2024.” That is the title of the most recent article on the website of the National Assembly, Nigeria’s highest legislative body.

Before then, an article titled “Plenary Proceedings of the House of Representatives for Tuesday, March 5th, 2024,” was published 15 days earlier.

Both articles summarise the discussions and decisions of the lower chamber of the National Assembly during the two legislative days.

A few days earlier, an article on the inauguration of the House Committee on Constitution Review had been uploaded on the website. It was titled, “House of Representatives Inaugurates Constitution Review Committee.” It discusses the formation of the committee tasked with reviewing the Nigerian Constitution.

These three articles were uploaded to the website over a year ago. No new articles have been uploaded to it since then.

Website structure

Although the exact date of its creation is unclear, the National Assembly website appears to have been designed in 1999, when Nigeria returned to democratic governance

When the homepage loads, the first image displayed is a side view of the House of Representatives wing of the National Assembly complex. It then slides to another banner titled “Connect with us”, encouraging visitors to stay updated with legislative activities at the parliament.

Beneath these slides, portraits of principal officers are displayed: Senate President Godswill Akpabio, his deputy Barau Jibrin, and Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele appear on the right, while their counterparts in the House of Representatives – Speaker Abbas Tajudeen, Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu, and House Leader Julius Ihonvbere, are shown on the left.

Their offices are highlighted in red and green to distinguish the two chambers, with links to their social media handles like Facebook, X, and email, placed beside their names.

Scrolling further, the site displays a YouTube section where plenary sessions from both chambers are meant to be streamed live. This is followed by a segment titled “In the news”, meant to provide updates on legislative activities. Another section then promises to keep visitors informed about the progress of bills, apparently through a bill-tracking feature.

At first glance, the website’s layout gives the impression of being a reliable and credible platform for up-to-date information on Nigeria’s legislative activities.

In reality, many of these features are mere window dressing. For instance, the lawmakers’ social media links are inactive, and the bill tracker has not been updated since 2022, showing no indication of whether listed bills passed through first reading, second reading, committee stage, or final passage.

Most recent bills

Perhaps most worrisome is the “Most Recent Bills” section, where drafts of legislation like the Tax Reform Bills, Cybercrime Act Amendment, National Anthem Act, Judicial Officers’ Salary Increase Act, Student Loan (Access to Higher Education) Act, and Death Penalty for Drug Traffickers Act are completely missing.

Votes and proceedings

Votes and proceedings serve as the official record of each chamber’s activities, capturing debates, resolutions, and other legislative actions during plenary sessions. They are essential reference documents for past discussions and decisions during plenaries. Yet, the most recent record available on the National Assembly website is 22 December 2021, over four years ago.

Incomplete committee listing

Legislative committees play a crucial role in shaping policy and overseeing government activities.

Currently, the Senate has more than 70 committees, while the House has over 100. In addition to these standing committees, both chambers also set up ad hoc committees as needed.

However, a search on the National Assembly website shows glaring gaps. The Senate’s committees are not listed at all, while the House section shows 134 committees with the names of their chairpersons.

Even this list is outdated and riddled with errors. For example, Abdulmumin Jibrin, the outspoken Kano lawmaker who was reassigned in June 2024 from the Committee on Foreign Affairs to the Committee on Housing and Habitat, is still listed as Foreign Affairs chair.

Similarly, Oluwole Oke (PDP, Osun), who moved from the Judiciary Committee on the same day, remains listed as its chairperson. These are just two among many inaccuracies in the committee records published on the National Assembly’s website.

Outdated and misleading senatorial records

Beyond the lack of regular updates, the National Assembly’s website contains outdated and misleading information. Former lawmakers who were sacked by the courts, died or even resigned as far back as 2023, are still listed as sitting members, while their replacements are missing.

For instance, Simon Mwadkwon (PDP), former Senate minority leader, was removed by the Court of Appeal in October 2023 and replaced by Pam Dachungyang (ADP) after a rerun election. Yet, Mr Mwadkwon’s name remains on the website while Mr Dachungyang’s is absent.

Similarly, Abubakar Ohere (APC), the former Kogi Central senator unseated by the court in October 2023, is still listed, whereas his successor, Natasha Akpoti-Uduagan (PDP), does not appear. The same applies to Ishaku Abbo (APC, Adamawa North), who was replaced by Amos Yohanna (PDP), and Ebonyi South, where Anthony Ani (APC), who succeeded David Umahi (works minister), is missing from the roll altogether.

The problem extends to the House of Representatives. Names of members who resigned or were sacked by the courts remain unchanged.

At least three lawmakers have been removed since the inauguration of the 10th House in June 2023, yet no updates have been made. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo and Yusuf Sununu, who resigned in September 2023 to take up ministerial appointments, are still listed as sitting members.

Simon Atigwe (PDP), who was sacked by the Court of Appeal in October 2024 and replaced by Dennis Agbo (LP), is also still on the record.

In addition, notices indicating that some lawmakers, such as Adewunmi Onanuga (APC, Ikene/Shagamu/Remo North) and Olaide Akinremi (APC, Ibadan North), are dead, are also missing.

Silence on social media

Nigeria’s National Assembly has little presence on social media. The official X (formerly Twitter) account last posted on 4 June 2021, merely retweeting a message from former Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila about a diplomatic visit by Canadian representatives. For more than three years since then, there has been no effort to use the platform for legislative updates.

A search for an official Facebook page also turned up nothing. Although an account named Nasstv streams plenary sessions live, no verified Facebook page for the National Assembly exists. Instead, only the individual chambers, the Senate and the House of Representatives operate separate social media accounts.

NASS silent

When PREMIUM TIMES contacted the National Assembly’s Director of Information, Audu Biallah, he declined to comment and asked the reporter to call back the following day.

However, repeated calls placed the next day went unanswered, as his phone remained switched off, and messages sent to him also received no response.

How other African parliaments are doing

While Nigeria struggles to maintain an updated legislative website, several other African countries have embraced digital transparency.

For instance, the Parliament of South Africa’s website features recent news, including weekly plans of the parliament, minutes of proceedings, reports of committees, stages of recent bills and petitions to the parliament, chairpersons of committees, members of each committee, distribution of seats by political parties, and many other features.

Kenya’s National Assembly website provides clear bill and motion tracking, committee updates, copies of recent votes and proceedings, petition tracking, copies of the daily order paper, and public participation forums.

Ghana’s parliament website has detailed information about the parliamentary proceedings, including the number of sittings the parliament has recorded since its inauguration.

In the United States, from where Nigeria copied its presidential system of government, Congress maintains a website that offers transparent tracking of bills, detailed records of committee proceedings, and regularly updated profiles of lawmakers.

Possible consequences

Igbagboyemi Oladele, the founder of CyberWarrior Technologies, warns that if Nigeria’s National Assembly continues to neglect its online presence, the consequences could be severe because hackers can exploit outdated software and compromise sensitive information on the website.

“Outdated information on the website can pose security risks, as hackers can exploit vulnerabilities in outdated software and compromise sensitive information,” he said.

Mr Oladele emphasised that it will be challenging for the public to track the progress of bills, policies, and projects if the NASS website is not always updated.

“Regular updates on the National Assembly website help hold elected representatives accountable for their actions. Without these updates, it may be challenging for the public to track the progress of bills, policies, and projects. Overall, regular updates on the National Assembly website are essential for maintaining transparency, accountability, and public trust in the institution,” he added.

To improve access to legislative information, Ifeanyi Odili, president of Campaign for Democracy (CD), suggested that the NASS management should ensure that bills, committee reports, and plenary proceedings are published on its website regularly.

Mr Odili advised that documents on the website should be easily searchable, downloadable, and categorised for ease of access.

“The NASS management should make sure that documents on the website are easily accessible, searchable, and downloadable. They should be able to introduce interactive features such as feedback forms, public participation portals, and live Q&A sessions. The world is going digital, NASS should make use of social media platforms to connect to Nigerians, especially the youths,” he recommended.