National Assembly Plans to Translate Nigerian Laws Into Local Languages

(National Assembly complex. Photo by The Sun Nigeria)

The National Assembly will soon expand the digitisation of its records and translate Nigerian laws into Igbo, Hausa, Yoruba and other local languages so that more people can access legislative information.

The Executive Secretary of the National Assembly Library Trust Fund, Henry Nwawuba, announced this on Monday in Abuja while opening the 2026 National Assembly Library Week.

The event carries the theme Parliamentary Memory: Connecting Records, Legislation and the People.

Nwawuba said the three-day programme is meant to be a yearly platform to promote legislative research, access to information and better use of the library resources.

He described the library as far more than a collection of books, calling it the knowledge backbone of the legislature and a store of parliamentary records.

He said the library is working to make sure lawmakers, their aides, researchers and other stakeholders can get trusted parliamentary records.

These include Order Papers, Votes and Proceedings, committee reports and Acts passed by the National Assembly.

According to him, the Trust Fund is putting money into electronic repositories and upgrading its e-library.

It is also building a mobile app for the library so that lawmakers, staff, researchers and the public can reach legislative information more easily.

He also revealed plans for a Bills Tracker that will let users follow bills and see how far they have moved through the law-making process.

Nwawuba said the library is producing infographics, audio-visual materials and video explainers to make bills, Acts and legislative procedures simple for Nigerians to understand.

He said the planned translation of laws into local languages will widen access to legislative information and help more citizens understand laws that touch their daily lives.

The library will also hold public policy dialogues to boost citizen participation in public hearings and create more chances for lawmakers, citizens, researchers and other stakeholders to interact.

He added that all these steps are meant to fix inconsistencies in official parliamentary documents and to stop the spread of fake or unauthorised copies of National Assembly records.

Senate President Godswill Akpabio urged lawmakers to use the library more, especially at a time of rising misinformation, disinformation and fast growth in artificial intelligence.

He was represented by Senator Osita Ngwu, who described the library as a key link between evidence, knowledge and law-making decisions and called for continued support for its growth.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Abbas Tajudeen, was represented by the House Leader, Prof Julius Ihonvbere.

He said legislative records are vital for understanding the history of Nigerian law-making and for strengthening democracy.

Tajudeen said the strength of a legislature should be judged not only by the laws it passes but also by how well it records its work, keeps its knowledge and makes that information available to future generations.

He said technology and artificial intelligence can improve research, record keeping and access to information, but warned that their use must be guided by accuracy, security and sound professional judgment.

The Clerk to the National Assembly, Kamoru Ogunlana, said the legislature cannot be truly independent if it cannot create, keep, retrieve and confirm the authenticity of its own knowledge and records.

He described the library as a bridge between parliamentary records, laws and the people, and said Parliament cannot be fully open if its records cannot be found, understood and trusted.

He named the Order Paper, Votes and Proceedings and Hansard as key parts of the democratic memory of Nigeria and explained that the Order Paper sets out the agenda for legislative business.

The Clerk warned against the spread of incomplete, outdated, altered or unauthorised bills, Acts and other parliamentary documents, noting that digital technology has made it easy for documents to be manipulated and shared.

He stressed that the strength of an Act depends not just on having a document but on being able to prove which version is genuine and authoritative and the legal process that produced it.

He pointed out that people still widely use the Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004, and that this shows how hard it is to keep a current and authoritative collection of federal laws.

He explained that the 2004 edition only covers the laws included in that review exercise and is not updated automatically when a new Act is passed.

Ogunlana said the National Assembly must also strengthen cybersecurity, digital preservation, secure authentication, access controls, backup systems and staff training as its records go digital.

He warned that while digitisation makes information easier to reach, search and share, it can also expose records to cyberattacks, manipulation and people pretending to be official sources.

He said digital platforms must therefore be both accessible and secure, and electronic records must be available, genuine and traceable.

He said the library should grow beyond a place where documents are stored into an institution where parliamentary knowledge is kept, verified and made available to lawmakers, researchers, journalists, civil society groups, students and the wider public.

The President of the Nigerian Library Association, Dr Lawal Umar, called for steady investment in libraries and modern information technology to improve access to legislative information.

He also urged stronger teamwork 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 legislatures have a lot to learn from one another in building institutions that can preserve legislative memory.