Assessment of the 9th Nigeria Senate’s Parliamentary Official Reporting and Effective Legislation

Abstract

Oftentimes, Legislators as well as members of the public from within and outside the country request the National Assembly Official Report Department for Hansard of proceedings on Bills or Motions to follow debated issues and the resolutions passed due to the unavailability of the Hansard online. Arguably, it is not certain if all the Legislators are well informed about the existence of where and how they can trace their contributions to Debates in a masterpiece called Bound Volume. This study examined the 9th Nigeria Senate’s Parliamentary Official Reporting vis-à-vis the effectiveness of the Legislation. Specifically, the study examined the availability and accessibility of the Senate Official Report (Hansard) and assessed the awareness level of the Legislators regarding Official Reporting and its importance. It also investigated the effectiveness of the Official Report Department in the delivery of daily Hansard; and examined the factors hampering the performance of the National Assembly Official Report Department. The study is motivated by the fact that the Nigeria 9th Senate did not have the daily production of Official Reports (Hansard) nor did it produce Bound Volumes of the Official Reports as it is obtainable in other Parliaments globally. The study adopted a quantitative research method design. Specifically, data were obtained using the administration of questionnaires within two (2) groups namely; the staff of the Official Report Department, and distinguished Members of the Senate. The study adopted descriptive and content analysis methods. Collected data were analyzed using SPSS and NVivo analysis packages. Findings showed that legislators can access the Hansard by visiting Official Report Department whereas, most of them have never accessed the Hansard before. It also showed that legislators are mostly aware of the existence of the Official Report and its utmost importance in the Legislature following its numerous benefits. It established that the Official Report is vital in enhancing the effectiveness of the Legislators. However, the legislators’ attitudes to accessing the Official Report as well as timely service delivery of the Official Report Department is very poor and below expectation. Uploading Hansard online would significantly enhance the legislators’ accessibility of the Official Report. The study concluded that there is a high level of Official Report awareness among the legislators and that Official Report is important in the Legislature. However, legislators’ attitudes to accessing Official Reports is very poor and call for concerns. Therefore, there is a need to sensitize the legislators on the Official Report, and adequately equip the Official Report Department with modern technology to facilitate the upload of Hansard online for easy access. Similarly, the creation of a conducive working environment for the staff of the Official Report Department to enhance efficiency was also recommended.