One of the promises of Speaker Abbas Tajudeen during the inauguration of the 10th House of Representatives on the 13th of June, 2023, was to throw the activities of the House open to Nigerians. As a result, the House was termed the People’s House. Although the work of the legislature is not limited to lawmaking alone, the 10th House of Representatives has no doubt lived up to this obligation. Every year, the House has organised what it regarded as NASS Open Week, bringing together traditional rulers, civil society groups, women groups, and security agencies to deliberate on issues it considered germane to the growth and development of the country. Such an event has been an avenue for stocktaking by the parliament. While many believe that the House has done creditably well, others believe that there is nothing to celebrate because, according to them, the House has not lived up to its promises. Those who hold onto this notion accused the House of not standing with the people in critical times, especially in addressing the pressing economic needs of Nigerians.

At the 2026 open week, the Speaker presented an account of the House’s performance in the last three years. Interestingly, the House holds proudly to the fact that it has passed a record 363 bills in three years out of the about 2,747 bills presented to it. Of these bills, the president has signed 72 into law, including the Students Loans Act and the Electricity Act, the Tax Reform Act, the Insurance Act, among others. Speaker Abbas said, “These are not lines upon a page; they are measurable and lasting change. These figures represent the highest for any Assembly since 1999. One of those laws offers young people interest-free student loans, so that no Nigerian student is turned away from a lecture hall for want of means. Another has reformed how the nation raises and shares its revenue. Others have created commissions to carry development into every region of the Federation. The landmark statutes are only part of our work. More than 800 citizens have petitioned this House, and we have already brought hundreds of those matters to resolution. That, in my estimation, is this House at its most faithful. Where we have served the nation well, the Scorecard records it. Where we have fallen short, it records that also. At our inauguration in 2023, we asked to be measured against our own promises, and we meant it”.

Clement Nwankwo, Executive Director of the Policy and Legislative Advocacy Centre (PLAC), said the House has “demonstrated commitment in several important areas, including the ongoing constitutional review process, efforts to modernise legislative procedures, consideration of key electoral and governance reforms, increased use of digital platforms, and greater engagement with citizens and civil society. It has also shown resilience in responding to emerging national challenges and has maintained a generally stable legislative environment”.

He said while the House has done a lot in the last three years, the Nigerian citizens rightly expect more from the Legislature.

“They expect stronger and more independent oversight of the Executive, more timely consideration of critical national issues, greater transparency in legislative business, broader public participation in law-making, and reforms that directly improve governance, security, economic opportunity and social justice. The Legislature is at its strongest not when it agrees with the Executive, but when it faithfully discharges its constitutional duty to scrutinise executive action, protect public resources and ensure that government remains accountable to the people. The jury is out there on how you have performed in this regard,” Nwankwo said.

Yetunde Bakare, who spoke on behalf of Yiaga Africa, commended the House for its consistency in creating a platform that allows citizens to better understand legislative processes, assess institutional performance, and engage meaningfully on issues that shape our nation’s future.

He, however, challenged the House in particular and the National Assembly in general to go beyond these conversations and strengthen its oversight function, as there are growing concerns among citizens and, as the people’s house, it must ensure that indeed, citizens can see and feel that their interests are protected and the executive is held accountable.

She reminded the House of the need to strengthen public trust in the nation’s electoral process, stressing that “public trust in democratic institutions is strengthened when citizens are informed, engaged and able to contribute to policy-making. It is therefore encouraging to see deliberate efforts to mobilise young people, promote information integrity, encourage inclusive participation and deepen collaboration between lawmakers and citizens”.

In its scorecard presented during the NASS Open Week, a flagship programme of the 10th Assembly, the House scored itself high in the implementation of the agenda it set for itself.  Using the Inter Parliamentary Union scorecard principles, the House scored itself 3 out of 5 marks in the area of representation, participation, responsiveness, effectiveness and transparency, while scoring itself 2 in inclusiveness and accountability.

State Police and constitutional amendment

Although the House had promised to pass the constitutional amendment bills before the end of 2025 to remove the pressure associated with elections, it failed to achieve that, but has pushed ahead with the process. While the House committee submitted a report to the House for consideration in December 2025, the House has singled out the state police bill for consideration as one of the priority bills. In the view of Speaker Abbas,  the argument for state police is simple, adding that “a country as large and as varied as ours cannot be policed forever by one central Force run from the capital. More than two hundred million people live across our forests, our farmlands, and our borders, and a single Force cannot know every community or watch every road. Banditry has threatened families and farmers. Kidnappers have plagued our highways. Disputes between farmers and herders have resulted in deadly clashes. Fear has overtaken our schools. These are local problems, and they need local knowledge, local presence, and local accountability. Policing works best when the people who protect a community actually belong to it, and that is the confidence this reform is meant to rebuild”.

But the Speaker is not lost on the fact that Nigerians have raised a series of concerns over the establishment of state police and the possibility of abuse by state governors. He, however, allayed the fears of Nigerians, saying “a State Police cannot begin to operate until the State House of Assembly creates it by law, and until it meets the national minimum standards that the National Assembly will set. Until that time, the Federal Police continue to serve that State. The Bill also separates responsibilities clearly. The Federal Police will handle federal crimes, terrorism, our borders, and the Federal Capital, while the State Police will handle ordinary law and order within the State. And it builds in safeguards. Each force will be governed by an independent State Police Service Commission, and its funds will reach it directly.

“The Bill places strict limits on the use of firearms. And it forbids any officer from arresting, detaining, or using force for political, ethnic, religious, or personal reasons. I understand the concern that many people bring to this discussion, and it is a reasonable one. It is the fear that a State Police could become the private army of a governor or a political godfather. The people who drafted this Bill had the same fear, and they answered it. A State appoints its Commissioner of Police on the recommendation of the National Police Council. The State Assembly must confirm that appointment, and only a two-thirds majority of the Assembly can remove the officer, and even then, only for good cause. If a State Police breaks down, or falls into the wrong hands, or turns against the very people it should protect, the Constitution allows the Federal Police to step in. But it allows this only in defined situations, only in writing, only for a limited period, with notice to the Governor and to the National Assembly within forty-eight hours, and always subject to the courts. No such step may dissolve a State Police or suspend a State’s elected institutions. These are the safeguards that will keep the reform honest.”

Speaker Abbas is not unaware of criticisms against the parliament as well as allegations of rubber-stamping by many Nigerians, especially social media influencers and members of the opposition. There have also been allegations that the parliament does not do due diligence on Executive bills and correspondences that come from the Executive.

He attempted to dispel these allegations, saying, “Many of the Bills introduced in the House do not advance more swiftly through their readings. Some assume, in good faith, that when a President signs a Bill quickly, then the legislature is a rubber-stamp. That is not how the work is done. Swift assent is usually the reward of months of committee work, completed long before the cameras arrive. Even the Congress of the United States has, in urgent moments, passed sweeping legislation in a single day, and no serious observer called it surrender. Speed built on hard preparation is the mark of a Parliament that is working, not one that has stopped thinking. My appeal to the citizen who observes us today is therefore a simple one: draw closer. Acquaint yourself with the true workings of your Parliament. Read a Bill before you pass judgement upon it. Submit your memoranda when we call for them. We take your submissions seriously and consider your input in amending laws. It is for this reason that our young people will gather this week to confront the scourge of disinformation and to lay claim to their voice ahead of 2027. A democracy is made strong not by those who applaud it from a distance, but by those who step forward and take part”.

Nwankwo, however, believe the parliament should give greater priority to concluding the constitutional amendment process in a manner that reflects broad national consensus, particularly, ensuring the passage of the Special Seats Bill for Women; strengthening the legal framework for credible elections; advancing reforms that deepen inclusion, including greater representation of women and other historically underrepresented groups; improving transparency in legislative operations; and ensuring that oversight functions are rigorous, evidence-based and focused on measurable outcomes for citizens.

After its inauguration in 2023, the House gave itself an eight-point legislative agenda broken down into different thematic areas. This agenda, which was unveiled by Senate President Godswill Akpabio in November 2023, aligned with the Federal Government’s Renewed Hope Agenda. These areas include strengthening good governance, improving national security, Law Reform, Economic growth and development, social sector reform and development, inclusion and open parliament, influencing Nigeria’s foreign policy, as well as climate change and environmental sustainability.

In a 118 paged scorecard made available during the NASS Open Week, the House gave a vivid account of its performance in the last three years. In the area of strengthening good governance, the rule of law, human rights, anti-corruption and improved delivery, the House said it passed 34 bills and 178 motions (13.5%). Some of the legislation under this agenda included the Federal Audit Service Act and reforms to public finance institutions. This is in addition to repeatedly framing anti-corruption as a governance imperative rather than a slogan. For the first time in several years, the Public Accounts Committee of the House placed a lot of emphasis on recovering monies for the government against previous assemblies that emphasised threats against agencies of government.

There has been a lot of attention and debate on insecurity in the last three years in the House. Interestingly, there is hardly any legislative week that passes without the House discussing matters of security. The House also held security summits to find the way forward, while also laying strong emphasis on security-related bills and motions. As part of addressing the security concerns, the House passed aboutb15 bills and 255 motions, the second-largest number of motions per category. This is in addition to the National Security Trust Fund and the State Police (Constitution Alteration) Bill. It has also held a series of special security sessions as well as interfacing.

Under its Law reform agenda, the House stressed its dedication to reforming the nation’s laws through constitutional, judicial, electoral and local-government reform. It passed about 19 bills and 41 motions, with the flagship products being the Electoral Act amendment, which will be used for the conduct of the 2027 general elections and the ongoing constitution-review process. Others include the State Police alteration and the Reserved Seats Bill. In the area of economic growth and development, the House said it passed 39 bills and 186 motions in three years, including the four Tax Reform Acts of 2025. The Speaker tied the pillar directly to jobs and poverty, saying, “We are dedicated to fostering an environment that promotes sustainable economic growth and development. We shall use every legislative tool at our disposal to create jobs for our teeming youths, address the challenge posed by poverty, improve infrastructure, ensure top quality and affordable health care, and provide security for all Nigerians.”

The social sector, which comprised education, health, regional development and social welfare, has attracted the highest number of bills and motions since the inauguration of the House, with 142 bills and 458 motions passed, with the Students’ Loan Act being the flagship. The House said this concentration reflects a deliberate citizen-welfare orientation.

The House also prides itself on having operated an open and inclusive parliament in the last three years, holding open parliament and passing bills that encourage inclusive governance, while also taking steps to encourage and influence the country’s foreign policy. For the first time in the history of the parliament, the House put in place several friendship committees to deal with parliaments in other countries while also building on the Conference of Africa Presiding Officers initiated by the leadership of the last Assembly. The House, however, admitted that foreign policy is the least represented pillar in domestic legislation, with only 2 bills passed and 11 motions passed, while domesticated international instruments such as the African Union Convention on internally displaced persons. The agenda on Climate change and environmental sustainability recorded 10 bills passed and 151 motions, which it said represent a striking gap between legislative output and floor attention that reflects the prominence of flooding, erosion, pollution and desertification in Members’ constituency concerns.

The House also said that “the Student Loans (Access to Higher Education) Act, 2024 is the clearest example of legislation producing a measurable, rapid effect on citizens. Establishing a zero-interest loan scheme administered by NELFUND, it moved from enactment to disbursement within a year. Independent reporting tracked the scheme’s growth from N56.85 billion to 298,124 beneficiaries by May 2025, to N 86.35 billion for 449,039 students by August 2025. The House’s own records place cumulative disbursement at N 303.9 billion to about 1.64 million beneficiaries by July 2026. The scheme also became a live oversight subject when the House Committee examined an alleged N71 billion diversion, an allegation the NELFUND managing director denied before the panel, insisting that “90 per cent of funds received by NELFUND must go toward student loans [and] these funds are untouchable.”

Amidst criticism across the country, the House, working in concert with the Senate, passed the 2026 Electoral Act, which provides the framework for the conduct of the 2026 general elections, making substantial alterations to the 2022 Act. The House, however, believes that the true test of the law will be in its application, saying “the House will only be able to assess this reform’s impact after the 2027 cycle, and the fourth-year edition should treat it as a forward commitment rather than a completed achievement”.

Despite the successes the House believes it has recorded regarding the Electoral Act, many Nigerians believe that the law failed to provide a certain legal framework for the elections, while others believe that the parliament was too overbearing, especially when discussing the mode of party primaries.

Also, Nigerians are not happy with some of the issues contained in the Cyber Security Act. But the House believes that the suspension of the 0.5% cybersecurity levy in May 2024 is the clearest case of the House using its authority to protect citizens from an executive measure. After a motion moved by the Minority Leader, the House directed the Central Bank to withdraw an “ambiguous” circular that threatened to burden ordinary customers amid post-subsidy hardship. That the initiative came from the minority benches, and succeeded, is itself evidence of a functioning, cross-party check, a useful counter to the ‘rubber-stamp’ critique, even as other episodes lend that critique weight.

Nwankwo, however, believes that Nigeria’s democratic future will depend, in no small measure, on the effectiveness of the National Assembly in carrying out the responsibilities entrusted to it by the Constitution. He said, “Law-making is important, but legislation alone cannot sustain democracy. The Legislature must remain the foremost institution for accountability. It must ensure that public funds are properly appropriated and responsibly spent, that executive power is exercised within constitutional limits, that government policies are subjected to robust scrutiny, and that the voices of citizens are reflected in national decision-making. Where oversight is weak, corruption flourishes. Where representation is diminished, public trust declines. But where Parliament performs its constitutional functions with courage, independence and integrity, democracy is strengthened, and citizens’ confidence in government grows.”

For former Speaker of the House and Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila,  while the Executive and the Legislature are separate arms of government, they share one ultimate mandate, which is to improve the lives of the Nigerian people.

The former Speaker said that “constructive cooperation does not diminish legislative independence, nor does robust debate amount to institutional conflict”, adding that “our democracy is strengthened when both arms engage with mutual respect, constitutional fidelity and a clear focus on results.

He said the Presidency remains committed to a productive relationship with the National Assembly in pursuit of security, economic renewal, social justice and shared prosperity under the Renewed Hope Agenda. Nigerians expect their institutions to work together.