Osita Chidoka, a former minister of aviation, says it is embarrassing that the official website of the national assembly has not been updated since 2022.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Chidoka said between 1999 and 2018, there were only 823 hansard entries for the house of representatives and senate.
Hansard is the official published report of debates in the parliament.
The former minister said there are no entries of either hansards or order papers for the current national assembly chaired by Senate President Godswill Akpabio.
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“I recently checked the National Assembly website for Hansards and Order Paper and was shocked at the sheer carelessness, incompetence, and lack of oversight that the website embodied,” Chidoka wrote.
“None of the Hansards or Order Paper of the 10th Assembly was on the site. The failure to upload these documents on time is a gross violation of S. 2, 3, 4 & 5 of the Freedom of Information Act (FOI) enacted by the National Assembly.
“The last entry for the Hansard section was on May 31, 2018, and the column for Parliament all read 9th Assembly.
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“The latest Order Paper published on the NASS website for both chambers was on March 19, 2020.
“The latest Votes and Proceedings published for the Senate were on December 22, 2021, and for the House of Reps on March 18, 2020.
“The Bills tracker page was updated last in 2022. There are nọ dates on most of the Bills uploaded.”
Comparing the national assembly’s situation to the Kenya parliament, Chidoka said as of 5 a.m. (Nigerian time Wednesday), its order paper had already been uploaded.
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“As I write, 139 people are following the live proceedings today,” he said.
“Budget, expenditure, procurement, and archival information of the Parliament were published on the site. The Kenyan site is rich in information and actively managed.”
The former minister said the national assembly leadership should investigate “this embarrassing situation of a website still stuck in the 9th Assembly”.
“If someone is assigned and paid to manage this website, the NASS leadership should sanction the person or persons immediately,” he added.
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National Assembly Website: Another Example of Diminishing State Capacity
Nigeria's problems are manifold and profound. I recently checked the National Assembly website for Hansards and Order Paper and was shocked at the sheer carelessness, incompetence, and lack of oversight… pic.twitter.com/izMC7e1mgP
Advertisement— Osita Chidoka (@osita_chidoka) October 25, 2023
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