The National Assembly is to translate federal laws into Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo and other Nigerian languages, part of a wider push to digitise parliamentary records and make legislation easier for ordinary citizens to reach.
The Executive Secretary of the National Assembly Library Trust Fund, Henry Nwawuba, announced the plan on Monday in Abuja at the opening of the 2026 National Assembly Library Week, themed “Parliamentary Memory: Connecting Records, Legislation and the People.” He said the three-day event serves as an annual platform for legislative research, access to information and better use of the library’s resources.
According to Nwawuba, the translation is aimed at citizens who are not proficient in English, so that more Nigerians can understand the laws that shape their daily lives. He described the library as more than a store of books, calling it the knowledge infrastructure of the legislature and a repository of its institutional memory.
The translation sits within a broader digital overhaul. Nwawuba said the Trust Fund is investing in electronic repositories, upgrading its E-Library, and building a National Assembly Library mobile application to give lawmakers, aides, staff, researchers and the public easier access to authentic parliamentary information.
He also announced a Bills Tracker that would let users follow bills through each stage of the legislative process. Alongside it, the library is producing infographics, audiovisual materials and video explainers to simplify Bills, Acts and procedures, and plans public policy dialogues to widen citizen participation in hearings.
Part of the drive is about authenticity, not just access. Nwawuba said the initiatives were also meant to address inconsistencies in official documents and the circulation of fake or unauthorised copies of National Assembly records.
That concern was echoed by the Clerk of the National Assembly, Kamoru Ogunlana, who warned against the spread of incomplete, outdated, altered or unauthorised bills, Acts and other parliamentary papers. Ogunlana said the digital age had made it easier for documents to be scanned, manipulated and circulated widely, which is why proper preservation, authentication and access now matter more.
Representing the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, Senator Osita Ngwu urged lawmakers to make fuller use of the library, particularly at a time of misinformation, disinformation and artificial intelligence. He said the library should be seen not as a room of books but as an institution linking evidence, knowledge and legislative decisions.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, in a goodwill message delivered by the House Leader, Julius Ihonvbere, said legislative records were vital to understanding Nigeria’s legislative history and strengthening democratic governance. Abbas said a legislature’s strength should be measured not only by the laws it passes but by how well it documents its work and preserves that knowledge for the future.
The President of the Nigerian Library Association, Lawal Umar, called for sustained investment in libraries and modern information technology to improve access to legislative information. The Secretary-General of the Conference of Speakers of African Legislatures, Debo Oyewale, said African legislatures had much to learn from one another in building institutions capable of preserving legislative memory.
On the same day, the Senate offered a separate caution to the media. The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Yemi Adaramodu, advised journalists and the public against treating parliamentary motions, committee recommendations and budget proposals as final decisions of the National Assembly.
Adaramodu, who represented Akpabio at a capacity-building workshop for journalists in Abuja, said premature reporting of proceedings could distort the public record and create a wrong impression about decisions not yet taken. He said a motion sponsored by an individual senator should not be reported as the position of the Senate, and that committee recommendations were not final until adopted by the chamber.
He also warned against presenting the Executive’s budget proposal as the national budget, describing the submitted document as only a proposal, while committee defence sessions form part of an ongoing legislative process. He urged reporters to obtain the relevant documents and interrogate them before publishing.
On oversight, Adaramodu said journalists should go beyond reporting figures and track what happens to appropriated funds after approval, verifying projects on the ground and tracing appropriation, release and implementation before drawing conclusions about alleged misuse.
The translation plan, if carried through, would place Nigerian statutes before a far wider audience than the English-only versions currently reach. It also raises questions the organisers did not address on Monday, among them the timeline, cost, the number of laws to be covered, and how legal accuracy will be preserved across languages. Nwawuba did not give a start date or budget for any of the announced measures.
For now, the commitments remain statements of intent set out at a single event. Their significance will rest on delivery, particularly whether the mobile application, Bills Tracker and translated statutes move from announcement to public use.