By Tracy Moses
The National Assembly is strengthening measures to authenticate, preserve and secure parliamentary records amid concerns over the circulation of altered, incomplete and unauthorised legislative documents in the digital space.
The Clerk to the National Assembly, Kamoru Ogunlana, raised the concern on Monday in Abuja at the 2026 National Assembly Library Week, stressing the need for stronger systems to protect the integrity of the legislature’s institutional records.
The event, themed “Parliamentary Memory: Connecting Records, Legislation and the People,” brought together lawmakers, legislative officials, librarians, researchers and other stakeholders to examine the preservation and accessibility of legislative information.
Ogunlana said the National Assembly could not be truly independent if it lacked the capacity to generate, preserve, retrieve and authenticate its institutional knowledge and records.
He said the National Assembly Library had a critical role to play in connecting parliamentary records, legislation and the public, noting that transparency would be undermined if legislative records could not be found, understood and trusted.
The Clerk identified the Order Paper, Votes and Proceedings, and Hansard as key components of Nigeria’s democratic memory.
According to him, the Order Paper sets out the agenda for legislative business, the Votes and Proceedings document decisions and proceedings, while the Hansard provides a detailed record of debates and lawmakers’ contributions.
Ogunlana warned against the circulation of incomplete, outdated, altered or unauthorised Bills, Acts and other parliamentary documents, noting that digital technology had made it possible for manipulated documents to reach thousands of people within minutes.
He said the integrity of an Act depended not simply on the existence of a document but on the ability to establish which version was authentic and authoritative and the legal process through which it emerged.
“The integrity of an Act depends not merely on the existence of a document, but on our ability to establish which version is authentic, which is authoritative and the legal process through which it emerged,” he said.
Ogunlana called for stronger collaboration among the National Assembly, the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation, the Nigerian Law Reform Commission and the Federal Government Press to ensure that Nigerians have easy access to current and authoritative versions of federal laws.
He noted that the continued reliance on the Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, LFN 2004, highlighted some of the challenges involved in maintaining a current and authoritative body of consolidated federal legislation.
The Clerk explained that the LFN 2004 reflected the laws covered by the revision exercise and was not automatically updated each time a new Act was enacted.
He said the National Assembly must strengthen cybersecurity, digital preservation, secure authentication, access controls, backup systems and staff training as parliamentary records become increasingly digitised.
According to him, digitisation would make legislative information easier to access, search and disseminate, but would also expose records to cyberattacks, manipulation and impersonation of official sources.
“Digital platforms must therefore be accessible and secure, while electronic records must be available, authentic and traceable,” he said.
Ogunlana said the National Assembly Library should move beyond being a repository for documents to becoming an institution where parliamentary knowledge is preserved, authenticated and made accessible to lawmakers, researchers, journalists, civil society organisations, students and the wider public.
Earlier, the Executive Secretary of the National Assembly Library Trust Fund, Henry Nwawuba, said the institution was deepening efforts to digitise parliamentary records and expand public access to legislative information.
Nwawuba said the Trust Fund was investing in electronic repositories and upgrading the National Assembly E-Library to improve access to authoritative parliamentary records, including Order Papers, Votes and Proceedings, committee reports, Acts passed by the National Assembly, gazetted laws and oversight manuals.
He also highlighted the Bills Tracker, which enables users to follow Bills and monitor their progress through the legislative process.
Nwawuba said the library was developing infographics, audiovisual materials and video explainers to simplify Bills, Acts and legislative procedures for Nigerians.
He disclosed that plans were also underway to translate Nigerian laws into Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo and other local languages to broaden access to legislative information and help more citizens understand laws that affect their daily lives.
He said the library would also organise public policy dialogues to deepen citizens’ participation in public hearings and create opportunities for interaction among legislators, citizens, researchers and other stakeholders.
Representing the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, Senator Osita Ngwu urged lawmakers to make greater use of the library, particularly amid the spread of misinformation and disinformation and the rapid development of artificial intelligence.
Ngwu described the library as a critical link between evidence, knowledge and legislative decision-making and called for continued support for its development.
In a goodwill message, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, represented by the House Leader, Prof. Julius Ihonvbere, said legislative records were essential to understanding Nigeria’s legislative history and strengthening democratic governance.
Abbas said the strength of a legislature should be measured not only by the laws it enacted but also by how effectively it documented its activities, preserved institutional knowledge and made such information available to future generations.
He said technology and artificial intelligence could improve legislative research, records preservation and access to information but cautioned that their adoption must be guided by accuracy, security, professional judgment and protection of the integrity of parliamentary records.
The President of the Nigerian Library Association, Dr Lawal Umar, called for sustained investment in libraries and modern information technology to improve access to legislative information. He also urged stronger collaboration 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 had much to learn from one another in building institutions capable of preserving legislative memory, improving access to information and strengthening democratic governance.
The renewed focus on authentication and digital security comes as legislative information increasingly moves from physical archives to electronic platforms.
For the National Assembly, officials said the transition must ensure that parliamentary records remain accurate, traceable and protected from unauthorised alteration while becoming more accessible to the public.
They stressed that preserving authentic parliamentary records was essential not only for current legislative business but also for researchers, journalists, legal practitioners and future generations seeking to understand Nigeria’s legislative and democratic history.