A recent performance report from Nigeria’s leading parliamentary monitoring organization, OrderPaper, has revealed that 164 lawmakers in the 10th National Assembly have not sponsored any bills since the assembly was inaugurated on June 13, 2023. The report identifies 15 Senators and 149 members of the House of Representatives as having failed to introduce any legislation during this period.
The analysis also highlighted that a significant portion of these lawmakers, about 62% in the House of Representatives, are first-timers, which may partly explain the lack of legislative activity.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Oke Epia, the Founder and Executive Director of OrderPaper, pointed out the slow progression of the National Assembly in processing bills. He noted that this sluggish pace is exacerbated by the recycling of legislative proposals from previous Assemblies, particularly the 9th Assembly.
According to the report, more than 50% of the bills submitted to the Senate between June 2023 and May 2024 were recycled from earlier sessions. Similarly, nearly one-third of the bills introduced in the House of Representatives were carried over from previous Assemblies.
OrderPaper expressed concerns about what it termed “legislative copy-pasting” and the stagnation of bill processing in both chambers of the National Assembly. The report noted that while the Senate introduced 475 bills, only 19 have been passed, with 416 still awaiting a second reading. The House of Representatives showed similar trends, with 1,175 bills introduced, 58 passed, and 967 still pending.
Epia emphasized the importance of focusing not only on the quantity of bills but also on their quality and relevance to national issues. He called on Nigerian citizens to demand greater accountability from their representatives in the legislature.
Joy Erurane, Program Executive at OrderPaper, further underscored an imbalance in the sectoral coverage of the bills, noting that critical issues such as agriculture, food security, and national security have been inadequately addressed, despite their importance to the Nigerian populace.
This report raises serious concerns about the effectiveness of legislative activities in the 10th National Assembly and highlights the need for a more genuine commitment to impactful lawmaking.
