Rt.Hon Nwawuba heralds National Assembly Library week with digital transformation to save Nigeria’s parliamentary records

The story unfolding at the National Assembly Library this week is no longer simply about books, shelves and archived documents. It is becoming a wider conversation about how Nigeria remembers its legislative past, how lawmakers access information in the present and how ordinary citizens will understand the laws that shape their lives in the years ahead.

That conversation took centre stage on Monday, September 28 as the National Assembly Library opened its 2026 Library Week in Abuja under the theme, “Parliamentary Memory: Connecting Records, Legislation and the People.” What began as a programme designed to expose legislators, legislative aides and parliamentary staff to the enormous resources of the National Assembly Library has, within the first days, opened a much bigger discussion about digital access, the preservation of legislative records and the relationship between Parliament and the people.

The opening was formally declared by the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, represented by Senator Osita Ngwu, while the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Abbas Tajudeen, was represented by the House Leader, Prof. Julius Ihonvbere. The gathering brought together lawmakers, parliamentary officials, diplomats, academics and other stakeholders around a subject that is rarely placed at the centre of public debate but is fundamental to the workings of any legislature: reliable institutional memory.

For the Executive Secretary of the National Assembly Library Trust Fund, Rt. Hon. Henry Nwawuba, the library is much more than a physical collection of publications. He has positioned it as the knowledge infrastructure of the legislature and a repository of the records through which Nigeria’s democratic and legislative journey can be understood.

His message has been consistent without institutional memory, every generation risks beginning again. With properly preserved records, however, one administration can build on the work of another instead of losing valuable knowledge to time.

That philosophy is now being translated into concrete initiatives. Nwawuba disclosed that the National Assembly Library is deepening the digitisation of parliamentary records while upgrading its electronic library and working towards a mobile application that would make legislative information easier to access. The planned digital infrastructure is expected to provide access to authoritative materials such as Order Papers, Votes and Proceedings, committee reports, Acts passed by the National Assembly, gazetted laws and oversight manuals.

Perhaps one of the most striking announcements from the week is the plan to make Nigerian legislation available in indigenous languages, including Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo. The objective, according to Nwawuba, is to take legislative information beyond the traditional users of parliamentary documents and make it easier for more Nigerians to understand laws that affect their everyday lives.

The Library is also working on a Bills Tracker, which will allow users to follow the movement of Bills through the legislative process. Alongside this, it is developing infographics, audiovisual materials and video explainers intended to simplify Bills, Acts and legislative procedures for the wider public. These measures place the Library at the intersection of parliamentary research, technology and public information at a time when access to verified information has become increasingly important.

The question of trust has equally featured prominently in the discussions. Clerk to the National Assembly, Kamoru Ogunlana, warned of the dangers posed by incomplete, outdated, altered or unauthorised legislative documents circulating as though they were official records. He argued that as parliamentary records become increasingly digitised, systems must be capable not only of making information accessible but also of preserving their authenticity and traceability.

That concern gives particular meaning to this year’s theme. Parliamentary memory is not simply about preserving yesterday’s documents; it is about ensuring that the records from which laws, policies and institutional decisions are understood remain accurate, accessible and trustworthy. The issue has become even more significant in an information environment shaped by misinformation, disinformation and rapidly developing artificial intelligence technologies. Senator Osita Ngwu, representing the Senate President at the opening, urged lawmakers to make greater use of the Library’s resources in confronting these challenges.

The House of Representatives has also underscored the historical importance of legislative records. Representing Speaker Abbas Tajudeen, Prof. Julius Ihonvbere stressed that a legislature’s strength should not be measured only by the laws it passes, but also by how effectively it documents its activities, preserves institutional knowledge and makes that knowledge available to future generations.

Against that backdrop, the National Assembly Library Week is steadily becoming a meeting point between Parliament’s history and its future. The programme was conceived to commemorate the International Day for Universal Access to Information, promote utilisation of the Library’s resources, strengthen fact-checking and source verification, advance open Parliament and deepen partnerships with institutions including UNESCO, the National Library of Nigeria, the Librarians Registration Council of Nigeria, the Nigerian Library Association, the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies, academic libraries, fact-checking organisations and development partners.

For Nigeria Media Expert, Public Affairs Analyst and Publisher of 4th Estate Reporters, Njoku Macdonald Obinna, the development represents a significant conversation about the place of reliable information in modern parliamentary practice, particularly at a time when citizens increasingly depend on digital platforms to understand public institutions and the laws that govern them.

The significance of the week will move into another dimension tomorrow, October 1, as Nigeria marks its 66th Independence Anniversary. According to the programme announced by the National Assembly Library, the day’s activities will form part of the concluding phase of the Library Week and will include the Independence Day Anniversary Night, coming after the symposium, stakeholders’ engagement, capacity development and awards components of the programme.

It is a fitting convergence. As Nigeria celebrates the passage of another year of nationhood, the National Assembly Library is using the occasion to draw attention to another form of national inheritance the records of the country’s legislative journey. From the documents that captured parliamentary debates and decisions of earlier generations to the digital systems being developed for lawmakers and citizens today, the institution is making the case that a democracy cannot afford to lose its memory.

And that may ultimately be the most enduring message of the 2026 National Assembly Library Week: legislation does not end when a Bill becomes an Act, and parliamentary history does not end when a sitting is adjourned. Records preserve the reasons behind decisions, information allows citizens to understand them, and access creates a bridge between the institution of Parliament and the people it represents.

As the week reaches its Independence Day climax, the National Assembly Library, under Nwawuba’s leadership, is placing that bridge at the centre of its institutional mission connecting records to legislation, legislation to knowledge, and knowledge to the Nigerian people.