By Jemimah Wellington, JKNewsMedia Correspondent
A NEW parliamentary performance index has spotlighted legislative productivity in Nigeria’s 10th National Assembly, revealing that four senators and 48 members of the House of Representatives failed to contribute to debates, sponsor bills, petitions, or raise any Points of Order in the first year of the assembly’s tenure.
The findings were presented in Abuja during the unveiling of the National Assembly Deliberative Barometer and Policy Focus Report, compiled by ERGAF-Africa.
The organisation said the report represents the first attempt to digitally catalogue and present in infographic format the deliberative and policy contributions of lawmakers in Africa.
Covering the period from 14 June 2023, a day after the 10th National Assembly was inaugurated, to 13 June 2024, the survey recorded a total of 2,275 legislative actions at Senate plenary sessions and 4,174 in the House of Representatives.
Despite these volumes, the report flagged what it described as “a steady decline” in the quality of debates across both chambers.
ERGAF-Africa noted that while some lawmakers did not record a single contribution, others stood out for their level of activity.
Senator Idiat Oluranti of Lagos State led the female productivity index with 22 legislative interventions, followed by Federal Capital Territory senator Ireti Kingibe, and Senator Ipalibo Banigo.
The report also ranked the top ten performers in the Senate and the top twenty in the House of Representatives, excluding the presiding officers.
It stressed that issues of economic stability and security challenges remained the dominant themes at plenary throughout the review period.
ERGAF-Africa explained that the two-year compilation effort sought to introduce an evidence-based framework to assess legislative performance.
The report, it added, was designed to provide policymakers, analysts, and the public with an accessible tool for tracking the deliberative output of lawmakers.
The National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS) welcomed the survey but urged that its findings be contextualised within the scope of plenary sessions, noting that legislative productivity also extends to committee work and oversight responsibilities.
Hart Cyril, a member of the House of Representatives who represented the Speaker at the launch, echoed this position.
He acknowledged the report as a useful accountability platform but highlighted limitations, emphasising that contributions at plenary alone do not capture the full scope of parliamentary responsibilities.
The report recorded that some of the lawmakers listed among the non-contributors had their tenures truncated by court rulings, which ERGAF-Africa noted as a contextual factor.
Nonetheless, the survey stressed the gap between high-performing and inactive members across both chambers.
ERGAF-Africa concluded that the barometer would serve as a continuing framework for evaluating parliamentary performance, setting a baseline for future assessments of Africa’s legislatures.
