National Assembly wants Nigerians to read laws in Igbo, Hausa, Yoruba and other local languages

• National Assembly plans to translate Nigerian laws into Igbo, Hausa, Yoruba and other local languages.

• The move is aimed at making legislation easier for more Nigerians to understand.

• A Bills Tracker and mobile app are also being developed to improve access to parliamentary information.

• The initiative is part of a wider plan to digitise and preserve National Assembly records.

The National Assembly has announced plans to translate Nigerian laws into Igbo, Hausa, Yoruba and other local languages in a move aimed at making legislation more accessible to Nigerians.

Henry Nwawuba, Executive Secretary of the National Assembly Library Trust Fund, disclosed this on Monday, September 28, 2026, while declaring open the 2026 National Assembly Library Week in Abuja.

The three-day event, themed “Parliamentary Memory: Connecting Records, Legislation and the People,” is focused on promoting legislative research, improving access to information and preserving Nigeria’s parliamentary records. 

Nwawuba said translating laws into local languages would help more Nigerians understand legislation that affects their daily lives, particularly those who may have difficulty accessing or understanding legal information written in English.

He described the National Assembly Library as more than a collection of books, saying it “serves as the knowledge infrastructure of the legislature and a repository of parliamentary records.” 

According to him, the library is also working to make authoritative parliamentary records more accessible to lawmakers, legislative aides, researchers and members of the public. These records include Order Papers, Votes and Proceedings, committee reports and Acts passed by the National Assembly.

As part of the wider initiative, the National Assembly Library Trust Fund is investing in electronic repositories and upgrading its e-Library, while also developing a mobile application to give users easier access to legislative information.

The library is also planning a Bills Tracker that will allow Nigerians to follow bills and monitor their progress through the legislative process. 

Nwawuba said the library was developing infographics, audiovisual materials and video explainers to make Bills, Acts and legislative procedures easier for Nigerians to understand.

The Trust Fund also plans to organise public policy dialogues to encourage greater participation in public hearings and create more opportunities for interaction between legislators, citizens, researchers and other stakeholders. 

The initiative is also coming amid concerns over the circulation of incomplete, outdated, altered or unauthorised versions of legislative documents.

Clerk to the National Assembly, Kamoru Ogunlana, said documents such as the Order Paper, Votes and Proceedings and Hansard form an important part of Nigeria’s democratic memory and must be properly preserved, authenticated and made accessible.

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Ogunlana warned that digital technology had made it easier for parliamentary documents to be altered and widely circulated, making stronger systems for digital preservation, cybersecurity, authentication and access control necessary.

He also pointed to the continued reliance on the Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004, noting that the compilation reflects the laws covered by the revision exercise at the time and does not automatically incorporate subsequent legislation passed by the National Assembly.

The National Assembly's proposed language initiative is also in line with Nigeria’s National Language Policy, which states that laws enacted at the federal level should be written in English and translated into Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba and other Nigerian languages of wider communication.

The planned translations, however, are not yet available, with the National Assembly currently outlining them as part of its broader effort to digitise parliamentary records and expand public access to legislative information.