Three years on, productivity questions dog 10th N’Assembly

Three years after its inauguration, Nigeria’s 10th National Assembly is confronting mounting questions over whether its legislative performance justifies the cost of maintaining a full-time parliament, as official records reveal slow progress on lawmaking, declining attendance at plenaries and growing concerns about the effectiveness of legislative oversight.

While both chambers have delivered some of the Tinubu administration’s most consequential legislative priorities—including annual budgets, tax reform measures and key constitutional amendment proposals—the broader picture points to an institution struggling to convert legislative activity into measurable outcomes.

In the Senate, data from the National Assembly’s legislative dashboard show that lawmakers had introduced 1,033 bills as of April 29, 2026.

Yet only 106 had completed passage, translating to a passage rate of just 10.3 percent. Another 453 bills had passed second reading, while 424 remained stalled at committee level, the single biggest bottleneck in the legislative process. A further 38 bills had completed committee work but were still awaiting third reading.

Analysts say the figures illustrate a legislature that has remained active in introducing bills but considerably slower in seeing them through to enactment.

The disparity is also reflected in the performance of individual lawmakers. Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele leads the chamber with 56 sponsored bills, 24 of which had been passed by April.

However, much of that record consists of executive-sponsored bills and concurrence motions, which Senate rules require the Majority Leader to sponsor on behalf of the executive.

Outside those categories, relatively few senators have recorded significant legislative success, with many private members’ bills yet to advance beyond the early stages of the legislative process.

The data further highlights that executive-backed legislation, including annual appropriation bills, supplementary budgets, the tax reform bills and constitutional amendment proposals such as state policing have all received accelerated consideration, while many privately sponsored bills have remained trapped for months—and in some cases years—awaiting committee reports or further legislative action.

The committee system has consequently become the principal source of legislative delay. With more than 400 bills awaiting committee reports, governance observers have questioned whether the Senate’s internal processes are operating efficiently enough to meet public expectations.

Attendance at plenaries, which has equally become a recurring source of concern, came into sharp focus ahead of debate on the proposed State Police bill, when Senate President Godswill Akpabio openly appealed to lawmakers to attend proceedings because constitutional amendments require the support of at least two-thirds of senators.

“As we struggle to become senators, let us also remember the responsibilities of being a senator,” Akpabio told his colleagues. “It is not enough for us to look for tickets. And when we get them, we don’t come to the chambers. Please, come and let’s discuss the State Police Bill. Your constituents who voted you in will be watching.”

Akpabio’s appeal appeared to work as attendance rose the following day to 87, out of 109 senators, although well above the turnout usually recorded during routine plenary sessions. On many sitting days, however, attendance has hovered around 45 lawmakers or fewer, with rows of empty seats becoming a familiar feature of proceedings.

Lawmakers argue that committee meetings, oversight assignments and constituency engagements occupy much of their working week. Parliamentary work, they insist, extends far beyond appearances on the Senate floor.

Critics, however, maintain that attendance during plenary remains one of the clearest indicators of legislative commitment and public accountability because it is the forum where bills, motions and oversight reports are formally debated and decided.

Questions have also persisted over the Senate’s oversight role, one of its core constitutional responsibilities.

Although committees regularly summon heads of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) during budget defence sessions and occasionally conduct high-profile investigations, governance advocates argue that many inquiries generate publicity without producing visible policy outcomes or sustained executive accountability.

Those concerns intensified after the controversy surrounding the N1.3 billion allocation to the purported Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council in the 2026 Appropriation Act. The controversy emerged after Femi Gbajabiamila, the President’s Chief of Staff, publicly disowned both the council and its self-acclaimed director-general, insisting neither had any legal basis despite receiving budgetary allocation under the Presidency.

Yemi Adaramodu, Senate spokesman defended lawmakers, arguing that Parliament could not reasonably verify the legal status of every agency included in executive budget proposals because such proposals originate from the executive arm.

Critics, however, said the episode exposed weaknesses in legislative scrutiny of appropriation bills and reinforced concerns about the robustness of parliamentary oversight.

The House of Representatives is facing similar questions. An analysis of the green chamber’s activities shows legislative business has been repeatedly disrupted by extended recesses, declining attendance and slow progress on several landmark governance reforms.

Data compiled by the Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC) show lawmakers have spent 581 of the National Assembly’s first 1,003 calendar days on recess since June 13, 2023, representing 57.9 percent of the Assembly’s lifespan.

During the same period, the legislature sat for only 422 days, meaning lawmakers have spent more time away from plenary than conducting legislative business inside the chambers, a pattern that has worsened over time.

The National Assembly recorded 173 sitting days in 2023, below the constitutional minimum of 181 days prescribed under Section 63 of the 1999 Constitution. That figure declined further to 141 sitting days in 2024, while only 26 sitting days were recorded between January and May this year.

Although the constitutional requirement refers to sitting days rather than calendar days, governance observers say repeated adjournments continue to compress the legislative calendar, slowing consideration of pending bills, motions and oversight reports.

To meet the constitutional threshold this year, lawmakers would need to sit for at least 165 more days before the end of 2026, leaving little room for prolonged recesses as political activities ahead of the 2027 general election continue to intensify.

BusinessDay also observed that attendance at the House plenary has deteriorated further as electioneering activities gather momentum.

Recent sittings have attracted as few as 10 to 20 lawmakers out of the chamber’s 360 members, forcing postponement of legislative business because quorum requirements could not be met.

Among the measures delayed was the bill seeking to repeal and re-enact the Nigeria Police Trust Fund Act to establish a new legal framework for police funding, equipment, training and personnel welfare.

Benjamin Kalu, deputy speaker, acknowledged the impact of political activities on legislative work during one sparsely attended sitting, telling members: “Political parties’ activities are keeping members away; let’s finish quickly and go.”

Legislative productivity has also come under scrutiny – lawmakers have introduced thousands of bills since June 2023, only about 13 percent have completed passage, according to legislative records.

Many of those enacted establish new agencies and commissions, while significant constitutional and governance reforms—including diaspora voting, local government administration, reserved legislative seats for women, the establishment of an Electoral Offences Commission and amendments to the National Health Act aimed at strengthening primary healthcare funding—remain pending with less than a year left in the Assembly’s tenure.

The debate over legislative performance has also revived questions about whether Nigeria should continue operating a full-time parliament.
Senator Ali Ndume recently proposed that lawmakers should serve on a part-time basis and receive remuneration according to attendance.
“Let us be paid by sitting. If you sit, you get paid. If you are not sitting, you are not paid,” he said during a television interview.

Supporters of the National Assembly similarly argue that its performance cannot be measured solely by the number of bills passed. They point to annual budget approvals, tax reforms and ongoing constitutional amendment efforts as evidence that Parliament has continued to deliver on major national priorities despite criticism over attendance and legislative pace.
The criticism, however, extends beyond the number of bills passed to broader questions about value for money.

As of July 9, the National Assembly had spent 116 calendar days away from plenary in 2026 alone, comprising 26 days for the Christmas and New Year break, 41 days during the budget defence recess that was extended twice before lawmakers resumed in March, 22 days for the Easter and Sallah recess, and another 20 days during the Democracy Day and Eid-el-Kabir adjournment.

Although lawmakers insist committee work, oversight visits and constituency engagements continue during such breaks, governance advocates note that plenary—the forum where legislation is debated and approved—remains suspended during those periods, inevitably slowing legislative business.

Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, executive director of the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), said Nigerians are increasingly questioning whether the legislature is delivering value commensurate with the substantial public resources devoted to it.

“The National Assembly is one of the most heavily funded public institutions in Nigeria, and that level of investment comes with a corresponding obligation to deliver results,” he said. “When there is a growing backlog of bills, concerns over attendance and oversight outcomes that are difficult for the public to track, it inevitably raises questions about whether taxpayers are getting value for the enormous resources committed to the institution.”

Blessing Akpeji, a political analyst, said prolonged adjournments have widened the disconnect between lawmakers and citizens confronting economic hardship, insecurity and rising living costs.
“The Assembly has built a reputation of being more absent than present,” she said. “Security crises, economic reforms and oversight on budget implementation cannot wait. Legislative time is national time, and every day lost delays action on issues affecting millions of Nigerians.”

Chinedu Obi, director-general of the Inter-Party Advisory Council of Nigeria, IPAC, argued that the House had fallen short of public expectations on electoral reforms.

He cited the recently passed Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill, saying lawmakers ignored widespread calls for electronic transmission of election results and failed to advance constitutional proposals that would transfer the power to appoint the chairman and national commissioners of the Independent National Electoral Commission from the President to an independent body.

According to him, reforming the appointment process is essential to strengthening the electoral umpire’s independence and rebuilding public confidence ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Innocent Okechukwu, another political analyst, said many Nigerians still see the legislature as insufficiently assertive in holding the executive accountable, particularly regarding borrowing, inflation, insecurity and the rising cost of living.

“The constitution expects the legislature to do more than pass bills,” he said. “It is supposed to scrutinise government policies, question executive spending and ensure that borrowing is necessary, transparent and in the public interest. That is the benchmark many Nigerians are using to judge this Assembly.”