NASS to Translate Laws Into Local Languages

The National Assembly is set to deepen the digitisation of parliamentary records by translating Nigerian laws into Igbo, Hausa, Yoruba and other local languages.

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.

The three-day event is themed, “Parliamentary Memory: Connecting Records, Legislation and the People.”

Nwawuba said the programme was designed to promote legislative research, access to information and effective use of the resources of the National Assembly Library.

He described the library as the knowledge infrastructure of the legislature and a repository of parliamentary records.

He said the library was working to ensure that lawmakers, legislative aides, researchers and other stakeholders could access authoritative records, including Order Papers, Votes and Proceedings, committee reports and Acts passed by the National Assembly.

Nwawuba said the Trust Fund was investing in electronic repositories and upgrading its e-library, while also developing a National Assembly Library mobile application to make legislative information more accessible.

He also announced plans for a Bills Tracker that would allow users to follow bills and monitor their progress through the legislative process.

According to him, the library is developing infographics, audiovisual materials and video explainers to simplify bills, Acts and legislative procedures for Nigerians.

Nwawuba said translating laws into local languages would broaden access to legislative information and help more citizens understand laws affecting their daily lives.

He added that the library would organise public policy dialogues to encourage citizens’ participation in public hearings and create more opportunities for interaction between legislators, citizens, researchers and other stakeholders.

The initiatives, he said, would also help address inconsistencies in official parliamentary documents and the circulation of fake or unauthorised copies of National Assembly records.

The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, urged lawmakers to make greater use of the library, particularly amid the spread of misinformation, disinformation and the rapid development of artificial intelligence.

Represented by Senator Osita Ngwu, Akpabio described the library as a critical link 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, Julius Ihonvbere, said legislative records were essential to understanding Nigeria’s legislative history and strengthening democratic governance.

Tajudeen said the strength of a legislature should be measured not only by the laws it enacted but also by how effectively it documented its activities, preserved institutional knowledge and made such information available to future generations.

He said technology and artificial intelligence could improve legislative research, records preservation and access to information, but stressed that their adoption must be guided by accuracy, security and professional judgement.

The Clerk to the National Assembly, Kamoru Ogunlana, said the legislature could not be truly independent without the capacity to generate, preserve, retrieve and authenticate its institutional knowledge and records.

Ogunlana said the library served as a bridge between parliamentary records, legislation and the people, stressing that Parliament could not be fully transparent if its records could not be found, understood and trusted.

He identified the Order Paper, Votes and Proceedings and Hansard as key components of Nigeria’s democratic memory.

The Clerk warned against the circulation of incomplete, outdated, altered or unauthorised bills, Acts and other parliamentary documents, noting that digital technology had made it easier for records to be manipulated and circulated.

He stressed that the integrity of an Act depended not only on the existence of a document but also on the ability to establish which version was authentic, authoritative and legally valid.

Ogunlana noted that the continued widespread use of the Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, LFN 2004, highlighted the challenges of maintaining a current and authoritative body of federal legislation.

He explained that the LFN 2004 reflected laws covered by the relevant revision exercise and was not automatically updated whenever a new Act was enacted.

The Clerk said the National Assembly must strengthen cybersecurity, digital preservation, secure authentication, access controls, backup systems and staff training as parliamentary records became increasingly digitised.

He warned that while digitisation would make parliamentary information easier to access, search and disseminate, it could also expose records to cyberattacks, manipulation and impersonation of official sources.

Ogunlana said digital platforms must therefore remain accessible and secure, while electronic records must be available, authentic and traceable.

He said the National Assembly Library should evolve from a repository where documents were stored into an institution where parliamentary knowledge was preserved, authenticated and made accessible to lawmakers, researchers, journalists, civil society organisations, students and the wider public.

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.

Umar also urged stronger collaboration between the National Assembly and state Houses of Assembly.

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.