Former Aviation Minister Osita Chidoka has expressed deep concern over the state of Nigeria’s National Assembly website, highlighting carelessness, incompetence, and a lack of oversight.
Chidoka noted that the website’s problems are indicative of the diminishing capacity of the legislative body.
The former minister revealed that he examined the National Assembly website for Hansards (verbatim reports of parliamentary proceedings) and Order Papers, discovering many problems.
He said the website, which covers records from 1999 to 2018, had 823 entries for the House of Representatives and Senate.
He said: ”Many dates were missing, some documents couldn’t be accessed, and there were inconsistencies between dates on the website and those in the Hansard.
”One significant lapse was the absence of any Hansards or Order Papers from the 10th Assembly. This omission violates sections 2, 3, 4, and 5 of the Freedom of Information Act (FOI), which the National Assembly enacted.
”The Hansard section on the website last had an entry on May 31, 2018, and the column for Parliament consistently read “9th Assembly.” Similarly, the most recent Order Paper published on the National Assembly website was from March 19, 2020.”
To emphasise the gravity of this situation, Chidoka compared the National Assembly website to that of the Kenyan Parliament.
He found the Kenyan website far more dynamic and informative, with the latest Hansard from October 18, 2023.
In addition, he said today’s proceedings were readily available on the Kenyan website, which also had links to a YouTube channel for live streaming.
He attributed this failure to various factors, including a corrupt recruitment process, lack of merit in appointments and promotions, weak disciplinary procedures, and ineffective performance evaluation.
He stressed the need for a fundamental reevaluation of Nigeria’s public service philosophy, structure, and objectives.
Chidoka called on the National Assembly leadership to investigate the state of the website and sanction those responsible for its inadequate management, emphasising the importance of public transparency as required by law.
